Babies, Secrets and Surprises
by Sunnafire
Summary: Set at the end of Season 5 and on into season 6, Piper her has her baby. The sisters are torn apart by a secret that threatens their lives. And Phoebe finds out some interesting news. FINAL CHAPTER COMPLETE!!!!!!
1. Default Chapter

"Night Phoebs," Phoebe Turner's oldest sister, Piper Wyatt, said to her as she opened her bedroom door.  
  
"Night," Phoebe replied and smiled at her as she stepped into her room. She closed the door behind her and looked around the room as she flipped on the light. No one was there, yet.  
  
For the last six months Phoebe had been sneaking around with a man her sisters didn't approve of, Cole Turner. Cole was actually her husband, but six months ago she and her sisters had vanquished him because the Source of all Evil had been taking over his body. Cole's soul had been sent to the wasteland, where all vanquished demons end up. But since he was a demon with a soul, his body didn't incenatrate upon entering the atmosphere.  
  
After contacting Phoebe through whispering and channeling, Phoebe went to him in the wasteland. He had wanted Phoebe to use black magic to reincarnate him, but Phoebe had refused to use that kind of magic ever again. After she had left, he absorbed several vanquished demons powers, killed the beast that gaurded the wasteland, and returned to Earth as half demon, half human.  
  
Phoebe walked across her room to her dresser and pulled out a camosile and a pair of Cole's old boxers and put them on. Then pulled back the covers of her bed and nessled down between them to wait for Cole's arrival.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Half past ten, an hour after Phoebe had gotten into bed, she woke when she senced a light in the room. She looked at her bedside table and notice several candles lit. There were several more on the other table next to her bed, and around the room. She sat up in bed looking around for Cole, then spotted him lighting more candles on her dresser.  
  
"You couldn't wake me up? You had to be all romantic like that?" she asked him as he turned around.  
  
He smiled and walked over to her. "Yes, I did," he told her then kissed her passionately on the lips.  
  
"I've missed you all day," she whispered. "I couldn't wait for night to come."  
  
"Me either Honey," he replied and began kissing her agian, and again, and again.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Sunlight spilled into Phoebe's bedroom early the next morning. Cole scensed the light and opened his eyes. He blinked several times and glanced over at Phoebe's alarm clock, 6:37 AM. He groaned and looked down at Phoebe, who was snuggled up close against him with her head resting on his chest and an arm pulling him closer.  
  
He kissed the top of her head and whispered agianst her hair: "It's morning Honey, I gotta' go."  
  
"I don't want you to go," came her sleepy responce but she let go of him anyway, allowing him to get up.  
  
"Neither do I," her replied.  
  
She opened her eyes and watched him dress, smiling at him and thinking about how much she loved him.  
  
"What?" he asked when he noticed her eyes on him.  
  
"I love you," she replied.  
  
He smiled and walked over to her and sat down on the bed as he pulled on a button up shirt. "Well I love you too."  
  
"I wish we didn't have to sneak around," she said as she sat up. He bent down and picked up her camosoile and handed it to her so she could get dressed as well.  
  
"I'll do whatever I have to do to be with you, even if it means sneaking around," he said and kissed her.  
  
She smiled as he pulled away. "We can't do this forever though. What if we decide we want kids?"  
  
"Are you pregnant?" he asked.  
  
"I'm just saying what if," she replied quickly. Truth is she wasn't sure if she was or not, but she didn't want to get his hopes up if it turned out to be a false alarm.  
  
"Well we'll just have to deal with that when the time comes. Besides, your sisters want what you want-"  
  
"And I want you," she finished.  
  
"Exactly," he nodded. He bent down and kissed her, "I'll see you tonight. I Love you."  
  
"Love you too," she replied and kissed him agian.\  
  
He disappeared in a wave just as her door was opened by her younger sister Paige. "Morning Beauty."  
  
She smiled and nodded. Obviously the raven haired beauty hadn't noticed her brother-in-law's quick departure. "Morning Sunshine. I'll be down in a few."  
  
"Okay," she nodded and closed the door to let Phoebe dress.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Paige jogged down the stairs into the kitchen moments later. She noticed Piper and her husband Leo sitting at the table, Leo reading the newspaper and Piper eating. Piper was still in PJ's and Leo was in his usual slacks and flannel.  
  
"Morning all," Paige greated as she grabbed a bagel and a kife.  
  
"Morning," Leo and Piper replied together. "Did you wake Phoebs?" Piper added.  
  
"She was already up," Paige replied. Piper nodded and went back to her eating as Paige cut a bagel and put it in the toaster.  
  
Twenty minutes later when Paige was just finishing her second half of her bagel, Phoebe walked into the kitchen. She was dressed casually in a white halter top and blue capris with a white flower, hawaiian print. She smiled a silent good morning when she saw her family.  
  
"Wow, looks like someone's in a good mood," Piper observed with a slight suspision.  
  
"I slept really well," Phoebe smiled.  
  
"I shows," Leo replied.  
  
"You didn't hear any strange noises last night?" Piper asked.  
  
"No, none. Why?" Phoebe asked as she sat down and poured herself a cup of coffee.  
  
"We did, moaning. We might have ghosts," Paige replied.  
  
Phoebe went stiff. She knew the moaning wasn't ghosts, it was Cole, but she wasn't about to tell them that. "Ghosts? Should we stay home then?"  
  
"No, I'll call you if I need you guys. You'd better go though, it's getting late," she told them and pointed to the time on the microwave.  
  
"I'll take you Phoebe," Paige offered.  
  
"Thanks. Am I still going with you to your doctors appointment?" she asked Piper as she and Paige stood up.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Okay, bye," Phoebe kissed Piper on the forehead, then bent down and kissed her eight month pregnant stomach, for luck. Paige did the same and together they left. "Bye Leo!" they yelled as they left.  
  
"Bye!" He yelled after them, then turned back to Pier who was staring at the door as if she had something on her mind. "Whatcha' thinkin' about?"  
  
"Phoebe," she replied.  
  
"What abuot her?" he asked curiously.  
  
"Nothing, it's just she's been so happy the last couple months... I just wondering what's changed," Piper explained.  
  
"If you ask me, I think she's finally moved on from Cole," Leo shrugged.  
  
"That would be nice. She was doing fine and then he showed up, back form the dead and demon again..." Piper snorted. She hadn't been too fond of Cole eversince he'd become the Source and tried to kill them, several times.  
  
"Piper you know that wasn't Cole, it was the Source," Leo sighed. "I sorta' miss having Cole around anyway. He made Phoebe happier than I've ever seen her in her whole life. Plus I wasn't quiet so out numbered."  
  
Piper cocked and eyebrow at his last statement before voicing her opinion. "True. But she has been very happy lately and that has nothing to do with Cole what-so-ever. Besides, I think I speak for both Paige and I when I say if I ever see him agian I'm gonna' do what Phoebe should've done in the first place. Vanquish his sorry ass."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Bera paced imapciently in one of the many caverns of the underworld as she waited for her minion, Ralika, to return with news of the Charmed Ones. She sighed agngrily, she didn't like to wait for anything.  
  
"My lady, I have returned," a short, green, scaly demon told Bera as he entered the cavern.  
  
"And? Is it true one of them's pregnant?" Bera asked excitedly.  
  
"Aye, it's true. The eldest is pregnant. Seven or eight months prehaps," Ralika replied with a bow of his head.  
  
"Ahhh, good. It's not too late... Were you seen?" she asked him as she continued to pace, this time much less tensed.  
  
"No, my Lady, I posed as a vase of flowers in the middle of their breakfast table. No one suspected," he replied. "There was talk of the past Source. Something about he had taken over one of the sister's fiancee.."  
  
"Yes Bethazar. The witches stripped him of his powers, then when they vanquished the Source before, he took over Bethazar. When they vanquished him his soul went to the wasteland and escaped. He's a demon again so I hear," Bera explained. "What else did they say about him?"  
  
"Nothing. The witch expressed great hatred for him though," he shrugged.  
  
"Which one?"  
  
"The eldest, she certaintly does like her sister's choice in men," Ralika snorted. "Personally I found Bethazar great company. Before he crossed over that is..."  
  
Bera nodded. "Did you read any minds for me?"  
  
"Aye, Bethazar's witch. He came to her last night, though I suspcet it isn't the first time."  
  
"Hummmm," Bera thought. "Bethazar's witch heh? Are the rumors regarding her true?"  
  
"Aye, she's one of the most beautiful humans I've ever seen..."  
  
"Hummm," Bera scratched her head in thought.  
  
"She has suspisions about being with child... She took a test when she woke but it turned up negative. But you know those things, hardley ever acurate."  
  
"Yes, I do," Bera cooed as she sat down in her throne-like chair, in deep thought. "If she is in fact with child, you must find out soon. I could get a two for one deal here."  
  
"Yes my Lady," he bowed. "I won't rest until I know." 


	2. A baby is born

* * * * *  
  
"Here's todays mail," Cameron Baker told Phoebe as he wheeled a cart full of mail into her office at The Bay Mirror newspaper. Phoebe was the author of the advice column at the newspaper, a job she was acceptionally good at.  
  
"Thanks Cameron," Phoebe replied. "How's Julia? We haven't seen her in a few days."  
  
Cameron smiled, Julia was his wife. "She went into false labor three days ago, all the stress Elise was putting on her. The doctor said she had to stay home and rest for a few days before comming back. She should be back soon though."  
  
"That's great Cameron, I know you're excited huh? Becoming a daddy for the first time and all?" Phoebe grinned.  
  
"Yeah, I can barely wait," he said, and clenched his fists in anticipation.  
  
"I know what you mean, my sister's eight months."  
  
He nodded and turned to leave, but stopped and turned back. "Hey, I was wondering about something... When you first started here, weren't you pregnant?"  
  
Phoebe was silent for a moment. "Umm, yeah. But I lost him."  
  
"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to open up an old wound," Cameron replied sympathetically.  
  
"It's all right, no biggie," Phoebe shook her head dismissing it. "Tell Julia I said hi and can't wait to have my assistant back."  
  
"I will, she'll be pleased to hear you care so much," he nodded. "She loves you."  
  
"And I love her," Phoebe smiled. He smiled back as he turned and left her office.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Piper walked into the Bay Mirror sometime later in the afternoon. She walked past rows of desk with people sitting rediculously straight, and buisily typing. She walked on to the back corner of the building until she reached the last office on the right and knocked softly on the door. Through the blinds she saw Phoebe look up and wave her hand for her to enter.  
  
"Hey," Phoebe greated her with a warm smile. "I'm almost done with this letter and then we can go."  
  
"Okay," Piper nodded and sat down in the chair across from Phoebe's desk. "So... How's everything going here?"  
  
"Fine, I got a lot more mail today than usual," Phoebe gestured to the cart of mail by her desk with a nod of her head.  
  
Piper's eyes got big when she saw it. "Wow, that's a lot of mail."  
  
"I know," Phoebe nodded. She typed a few more words then exclained, "Done!" She stood up and walked around to the door and grabbed her duster off the coat rack and held the door open for Piper. "Ready?"  
  
"Ready," Piper confirmed with a nod and headed out the door. They were just about to leave the office when they heard someone calling Phoebe's name.  
  
"Phoebe! Phoebe wait!" Phoebe turned around and noticed it was Cameron. "You have a call on line five."  
  
"I can't take it now Cameron. Can you take a message for me?" she asked glancing at Piper. Cameron nodded and Phoebe waked out of the building with Piper leading.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"It won't be long now Mrs. Wyatt," Dr. Foster said as she examined the ultrasound of Piper's stomach. The rather large figure of a baby was displayed in black and white on the moniter as the doctor moved the wand around her stomach.  
  
Piper sighed trying to control her excitement as she watched the baby on the monitor. She could see and feel his movements and was instantly filled with maternal love. She couldn't wait to hold her son in her arms, but you can't rush a baby she reminded herself. So wait is just what she'd have to do.  
  
"Oh i can't wait!" Phoebe squealed from beside her. "Look at how cute he is!"  
  
"Well you don't have to wait much longer. A week or two, maybe less, you never know with these things," Dr. Foster replied. She turned her attention from the screen to Phoebe. She had been looking through the files on her computer for Piper's when she noticed her sister, this sister, had a recent visit to the clinic. Curiousity had gotten the best of her and she'd taken a peak at the file. She wondered if Phoebe knew yet. She must have some idea.  
  
"Somehting wrong?" Phoebe asked her when she noticed the doctor's gaze on her.  
  
"No, nothing," Dr. Foster replied shacking her head and smiling.  
  
"Well Piper I've got to get back to work, or else Elise'll fire me," Phoebe told her sister. She kissed her forehead and started to go for her stomach but stopped at the sight of the goo. "I'd kiss Junior there but..." she trailed off and Piper nodded smiling.  
  
"Go," Piper pushed her lightly toward the door. "We'll be fine."  
  
"See you at the club then, bye," Phoebe waved as she left the room.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Bera stood at an altar preparing herbs for future use when her minion appeared. "My Lady," he bowed at the waist.  
  
Bear dropped the herbs and turned to him, smiling delightedly. "Well? Is Bethazar's witch with child?"  
  
"Aye, but she doesn't know it," the minion replied. "She went with the eldest sister to a doctor's appointment, I read the doctors mind. His witch is indeed with child."  
  
"Wonderful!" Bera clasped her hands together. "What about the other? What did her doctor say?"  
  
The demon shifted uncomfortably. "I don't think it's such a good idea to go after this child my Lady."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because, after a few days of spying on them I've concluded that the father is a Whitelighter. That's a lot of good, are you sure you could turn it?" the demon asked.  
  
"A Whitelighter?" Bera scratched her head in thought. "You're right, a Whitelighter-Witch child could prove difficult. Besides, it's getting to late to take this child anyhow. Bethazar's witch however..." she trailed off with an evil smile. She knew exactly what she was going to do.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Cole shimmered into Phoebe's bedroom later that night around ten. He noticed her in her bed as usual and walked over to her side and sat down next to her. He pushed a few strans of hair out of her face and kissed her softly on the lips.  
  
Her eyes eyes fluttered open slowly and she smiled when seh noticed it was him. "Cole," she said through a yawn.  
  
"Hey, Honey. I've got a surprise for you," he whispered as he kissed her forehead.  
  
"Hummm?" she aksed sleepily.  
  
"Take my hand," he held out his hand for her and she gently slid her hand into his, eyeing his suspisously.  
  
"What is it?" she asked, now fully awake.  
  
"You'll see," he replied teasingly and pulled her to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her and concentrated on shimmering across town.  
  
Two seconds later he and Phoebe appeared in a large apartment building twenty five miles from the manner. "Where are we?" she asked as she looked around the sparsley furnished room.  
  
"Our apartment," he replied smilng. "I bought it last month, but I didn't wanna say anything until I got some stuff to put in it."  
  
Phoebe smiled. "Ohmigod! Cole it's amazing! How can you afford all this?"  
  
"You don't think I sit around doing nothing all day, do you?" he asked playfully as he watched her walk around the downstairs. "I got my old job back a Jack McCarter and Clyde. I used my first five paychecks to get this palce and the furniture. It's not finished yet but I'll bet it'd be nice and homey if it had a woman's touch."  
  
She smiled at the last statement, but something he said earlier stuck in her mind. "They just let you come back?"  
  
"I just told them I took a well needed vacation without telling anyone," he replied with a simple shrug.  
  
"You are truly amazing," she told him as she came into his embrace and kissed him passionately on the lips.  
  
He smiled. "Now what do you say we go give that bed a test. See if it can handle the likes of us?"  
  
Phoebe grinned. "I thought you'd never ask!" She took his hand and he lead her upstairs to a loft she handn't notice at first. She was more excited than a little girl who recieved a pony for her birthday.  
  
* * * * * One Week Later * * * * *  
  
Paige Matthews rushed into the emergency room of Sait Rose Hospital through it's sliding doors. She had gotten a call from a nurse informing her that Piper had gone into labor. She had immediately jumped into her car a sped across town from her boyfriends house as fast a she could.  
  
She rushed over to the closest desk and tapped her fingers urgently on the desk. "Where's delivery?" she asked the woman on the phone.  
  
The woman pointed to a sign behind Paige. Paige silently cursed the woman, she didn't even have the decency to say anyhting, just point to a dam sign.  
  
Paige pushed her feelings down and examined the sign, she wasn't to great with maps, but for now she'd have to be. Three doors down on the right, she guessed from the color-coded map and walk-ran the three doors.  
  
The first two doors were regular pacient rooms, but the last was one of those major hallways leading to important parts of the building. She jogged down the hall until she came to another desk.  
  
"Can I help you?" the woman at the desk asked her.  
  
Finally some decency around here, Paige thought to herself and smiled at the woman. "My sister's in labor," she replied and couldn't help tapping her fingers nervously on the desk.  
  
"Her name?" the woman asked as she reached for a clipboard not much different from the other five clipboards on the desk.  
  
"Piper Wyatt," Paige replied.  
  
The woman scanned the list. "Room 38, that's just down this hall on your left," The woman pointed down the hall at the right on the desk. Paige thanked her with a smiled and immediately jogged down it.  
  
"32, 34, 36... ah ha! 38!" Paige mummbled to herself as she pushed open the door. It was a small room with double doors opposite the ones she'd just entered, but there was no sign of Piper. There was however, a young nurse standing opposite her next to the other set of doors.  
  
"You one of the sisters?" she asked her.  
  
Paige nodded, "You mean Phoebe's not hear yet?" she asked the nurse as she handed her a green smock and a mask to put on over clothes.  
  
"No, you and the husband are the only ones so far," the nurse replied.  
  
"Can you call her then?" Paige asked as the nurse ushered her though the other set of doors.  
  
"She's already been contacted," she assured her as she closed the doors behind behind Paige, she guessed to wait for Phoebe.  
  
A high pitched scream made Paige jump and she noticed Piper on a gourney, strattle positioned. Leo was beside her and three more doctors huddled together around her lower area.  
  
"Leo! Where's Phoebe?" Paige asked as she came to the opposite side of Piper.  
  
"I donno, they called her a few seconds ago," he replied as he ran his hands lovingly through Piper's hair.  
  
Paige nodded and focused her attention on Piper. "Hey Sweety, how you doing?" she asked taking Piper's hand. Her face was contorted in pain and her whole body was drenched in sweat.  
  
"How does it look like I'm doing?" Piper asked through clenched teeth.  
  
Paige nodded, not taken aback by Piper's rudeness in the least. She figured she'd be a little moody if a baby was about to come out of her as well. Even though Paige had never experienced a birth herself, she still had heard enough about it to know it was extremly painful.  
  
"Where's Phoebe?" Pier exclaimed over the pain she was feeling.  
  
"She's on her way Sweety, she'll be here don't worry," paige said, wipping some of the sweat off Piper's forehead with the back of her hand.  
  
"Ok, we need you to push now Piper," the doctor from the other end of the table told her.  
  
"That's what I'm doing!" Piper screamed.  
  
"Well we need an extra big push now, come on you can do it!" the doctor corrected himself.  
  
"Not until my sister gets here!" Piper replied, her voice strained with pain.  
  
"Piper you can't control when a baby's comming-" Paige began.  
  
"Watch me!" she exclaimed angrily. She turned to Leo, "Leo, go get her, I need her here."  
  
"Piper she's on her way, she'll be here any moment," Leo told her.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Phoebe's cell phone rang sharply, breaking the silence of the night. Phoebe tierdly sat up and reached for her purse on the nightstand nearest Cole. Cole felt the movement and woke up as well. Smiling at the sight of Phoebe hovering above him.  
  
"Hello?" Phoebe asked into the phone sleepily as she glanced at the alarm clock, 1:48 in the morning.  
  
"Is this Phoebe Halliwell?" a woman on the other end of the line asked.  
  
"Yes," Phoebe replied.  
  
"I'm Gene at Saint Rose Hospital. We have your sister, Piper, she's gone into labor and is requesting you presence," the woman explained.  
  
"Ohmigod, how long ago?" Phoebe tensed, now fully awake.  
  
She arrived thirty minutes ago Miss," the nurse replied.  
  
"I'll be right there," Phoebe said and flipped the phone closed as she turned on the light next to the alarm clock. "I've gotta go Baby," she told Cole and jumped out of bed, hurrying around to get dressed.  
  
"What happened? Is it a demon?" Cole asked concerned, as he began getting dressed himself.  
  
"No Piper. She's in labor," Phoebe replied as she pulled a pair of jeans on that she'd left there a while ago.  
  
"I'll shimmer you," he suggested.  
  
No, they'll see you and I really wanna avoid a fight with Piper while she's in labor," Phoebe shook her head.  
  
"They won't see me. I'll shimmer you into the bathroom and-"  
  
"Cole," Phoebe said sternly.  
  
"Do you really think Piper'll forgive you if you miss this?"Cole countered.  
  
Phoebe stopped what she was doing. "Fine, but you have to leave right oafter you drop me off. No hanging around.... I'll call you and tell you how every thing plays out later. Okay?"  
  
"Promise," Cole nodded pulling on a shirt as Phoebe grabbed her purse. "Ready?" he asked her. She nodded and he took a hold of her in a tight hug then shimmered across town to the hospital.  
  
They appeared seconds later in a bathroom stall of the hospital. "I love you," Phoebe told him and kissed him.  
  
"I love you too," he told her. "You owe me."  
  
"For what?" she asked curiously.  
  
"For cutting out evening short," he smiled.  
  
"I guess I could find some way to pay you back," she smiled seductively. He returned the smile and kissed her passionately on the lips agian, then disappeared in a wave as Phoebe opened the bathroom stall, and ran out in search of Piper. 


	3. Secret Meetings

"Shhh, shhh," Phoebe quieted the crying baby boy as she held him. Thirty minutes earlier Piper had finally given birth and now slept quietly in the gurney across the room. David Bryan Wyatt, they had decided to call him.  
  
"God he's so beautiful," Paige cooed as she watched him over Phoebe's shoulder.  
  
Phoebe nodded. "He's gonna look just like his Daddy."  
  
Paige nodded in agreement as the door to the room opened and Leo walked in carrying two waters and a coke. "How's everything going in here?"  
  
"Great," Paige smiled and took a water from him. "Thanks," he held up the water.  
  
Leo nodded and turned his attention to his son. "Can I?" he motioned to David, indicating he wanted to hold him.  
  
"Of course," Phoebe nodded and carefully transferred David into his arms.  
  
Together Paige and Phoebe watched Leo hold his son with such care and love, it made them both want to cry. Finally Paige broke the silence, "Well as much as I hate to say this, we should probably get to work."  
  
Phoebe nodded in agreement. "We gotta go now Leo, see you at home," she told Leo and she and Paige both kissed Leo and the baby before leaving.  
  
"Be careful," Leo told them and placed David in the temporary crib and sat down next to it to watch his son.  
  
* * * * * One Week Later * * * * *  
  
David broke into a loud cry early Wednesday morning. Phoebe jumped out of bed and ran over to the cradle to hush him before he woke Piper and Leo who were completely exhausted from parent duty.  
  
Phoebe and Paige had taken over watching him for the last two days, while Piper and Leo slept, when they started falling asleep doing everyday activities. Piper had once fallen asleep at the bar at P3 because David had kept her up all night with his crying.  
  
Phoebe carried him downstairs into the kitchen doing the jiggle and began preparing for his morning breakfast. She was beginning to become just as worn out as Piper and Leo, but she wasn't about to admit it to anyone, especially herself.  
  
She grabbed an already prepared bottle out of the refrigerator and stuck it in the microwave to warm up. When it beeped signaling its finish she pulled it out and tested the liquid on her wrist like she'd seen it done in movies. It was warm so she screwed the top on and sat down with David in the crook of her arm and began to feed him.  
  
He sucked noiselessly at the bottle as Phoebe stared at him, thinking of her own son. She had known it was going to be a boy because Cole and the Seer had gotten so excited over a heir to the underworld.  
  
Silently she wondered what he would've looked like had the Seer not taken him and then been vanquished. She imagined he would look just like Cole. He would've grown up to be as dark and handsome as his father, and made some girl very happy. But that wouldn't be happening see as how he was dead.  
  
She pushed thoughts of him away and focused on David. Piper was planning on binding his powers soon so he could grow up as a normal child. Personally Phoebe would've done that to her own son as well, but David hadn't shown any extremly disastrous signs of being magical. He'd frozen the cat once and a bottle orbed into his hands at one time, but nothing majority serious.  
  
She examined David. He looked similar to Leo, his eyes were a brilliant blue, but they all suspected that would change in time. Most baby's eyes did change after they were born. He had Piper's dark brown hair instead of Leo's dirty blonde though. It was too soon to tell who's face and body structure he had inherited because he had a lot of baby fat, so they would have to wait on that as well.  
  
Slowly David began to fall asleep and Phoebe took him upstairs and placed him in his bassinet she'd stolen out of Piper and Leo's room when she'd taken him from them. She was wide awake now and she looked at the clock. It was 6:19, Paige should be getting up soon, if she was home and not at her boyfriend's that is.  
  
She glanced over at her cell phone and picked it up. She hadn't spoken to Cole since he'd dropped her off at the hospital, and she was dying to see him again. She dialed the number to the apartment.  
  
"Hello?" he asked after a few rings. His voice was deep and sleepy and oddly comforting to Phoebe.  
  
"Morning Baby," Phoebe replied, careful to keep her voice low so the other's wouldn't hear.  
  
"Phoebe?" Cole asked. "You never called me back, I was worried."  
  
"I know, I'm sorry. We've just been really busy around here lately... Piper had her baby," she explained, dying to tell him about David.  
  
"Really? What is it?" Cole asked interested.  
  
"A boy, they named him David Bryan Halliwell-Wyatt. He's the cutest thing," Phoebe smiled into the phone. "I can't wait for you to meet him."  
  
"I get to meet him? Aren't you afraid of what Piper'll say?"  
  
"Well she won't know. It's not like David's gonna tell her," she teased. "Besides, he's your nephew. Paige and I are taking care of him for Piper and Leo. Piper's still a little weak from the birth and they're both exhausted."  
  
"So how are we gonna meet up? Don't you have work?" Cole asked.  
  
"No, I took the week off to help. I don't think Piper'll mind if I take him to the mall for a while to get him outta her hair. What do ya' say?"  
  
"I say how's 11:30?" Cole suggested.  
  
"Perfect, I can't wait," Phoebe gushed.  
  
"Me either. I can barely stand a whole day without you, you've really been testing me the last few days," he replied with a seductive hint in his voice.  
  
"Does that mean what I think it means?"  
  
"It means I can't wait much longer for you," he replied.  
  
"That's what I thought. We'll go home after we meet up, okay?" she suggested.  
  
"Home?" he repeated.  
  
"Well I live there to ya' know, just not everyday," Phoebe explained.  
  
He laughed. "I love you."  
  
"I love you too," she replied and hung up the phone.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"What's on your mind?" Glenn asked Paige when he noticed she was silent.  
  
"Nothing, I just feel sorta' bad leaving Phoebs with David duty, that's all," Paige sighed and rolled over in his bed to face him.  
  
"She can handle him," Glenn nodded.  
  
"How can you be so sure?" she asked curiously.  
  
"Well after all the things that've happened to her the past few months, it seems she could handle almost anything." He explained and kissed her on the nose.  
  
"Yeah well loosing your husband to evil, then your son is entirely different than helping to raise Piper's baby... Why don't you come by later and meet him?" she suggested.  
  
"Are you sure Piper won't mind? I'm not exactly family," he asked skeptically.  
  
"Oh she won't mind," Paige waved a hand dismissing it. "Besides you're practically family anyway."  
  
"I am? How's that?" he asked smiling.  
  
"Well it all depends on if you're my really good friend, or my boyfriend. And right now your my boyfriend, and that's just a few steps down from being the kid's uncle, therefore we're practically related." Paige explained with a satisfied nod.  
  
He laughed. "I'm glad you've got it all figured out." With that both of them got out of bed and began to dress. "Listen, before I forget, I wanted to ask you something..."  
  
"Yeah?" Paige asked hopefully as she pulled on a short black skirt.  
  
"Will you go to dinner with me tonight?" he asked.  
  
"Oh," Paige said, sounding much less enthused than she had earlier. She quickly put on a smile, "Sure."  
  
Glenn smiled. "Good. Dress nice 'cause it's a fancy place."  
  
"Ohhh, fancy, I like... What's it called?" she asked pulling on a red halter top.  
  
"I'm not telling. You'll just have to wait until we get there," he teased, pulling on a pair of jeans on over his boxers.  
  
"Ugh! You know I hate surprises!" Paige sighed as she picked up her purse. "Fine, what time are you picking me up."  
  
"7:30 and don't be late," he replied. He opened the door for her. She kissed him long and passionately before turning and leaving his apartment building for work.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Hey, how's my baby doing?" Piper asked as Phoebe came downstairs with David at 10:50 that morning.  
  
"I'm fine," Phoebe replied with a smile, knowing full well she ment David.  
  
Piper gave her a playful glare as Phoebe handed David to her. "Why's he all dressed?" she asked, examining the little overalls and T-shirt he was wearing.  
  
"Because you still needa' rest and I figured I could take him to the mall for a while?" Phoebe asked hopefully.  
  
Piper thought a moment. "All right, but only because I'm tired."  
  
"Understood," Phoebe nodded and pulled out two bottles of milk and a three jars of baby food and put them in the baby bag that held several other baby items. "Call my cell if you need me," she added as she put her cell in her purse.  
  
Piper nodded as Phoebe put the bag on her opposite shoulder and picked up the stroller. Seeing that she couldn't hold much else, Piper offered to buckle David in his car seat and Phoebe accepted.  
  
"Are you sure you can handle him all by yourself Phoebs?" Piper asked skeptically as Phoebe struggled to put the stroller in the back of her car.  
  
"I'll be fine, don't worry so much," Phoebe assured her. "Go sleep, you look like hell."  
  
"Shhh!" Piper exclaimed and pointed to David, "Virgin ears!"  
  
Phoebe laughed, "Sorry. We'll be back soon." With that Phoebe got into her and backed out of the driveway, while Piper stood there and waved.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Phoebe grinned at Cole as he waved her over to him from the table closest to Sushi Me, the table they'd planed to meet at. She pushed the stroller quickly over to Cole and kissed him passionately on the lips when she reached him.  
  
"Wow," he breathed when she released him. "If that's what a week apart does to a marriage then maybe we should try a few months!"  
  
"That's exactly what Nick Parsons said before he framed his wife for his death, ran off with their son and married her best friend in Double Jeopardy," Phoebe replied with a suspicious glint in her eyes as she sat next to him. "Are you planning to run off with Piper?"  
  
Cole pounded his fist on the table. "Damn I knew you'd catch on!" He kept a straight face for a few seconds, but a smile teased at the corners of his lips.  
  
She leaned over, her mouth hovering close to his and he closed his eyes expecting a kiss. "You couldn't leave me if you tried," she whispered and smiled at him as she pulled away.  
  
He caught her shoulders as she did and pulled her close again. "Guilty," he replied and kissed her intimately again. They were disturbed by angry wails from the stroller next to their table and both turned to David.  
  
Phoebe glanced at her watch and groaned. "I think he's hungry."  
  
Cole glanced around the mall. "Chicken?" he asked spotting Kentucky Fried Chicken.  
  
Phoebe stopped her movement for the baby bag she'd dropped on the floor next to her chair, and stared at him, trying to see if he were kidding. "Remind me that when we have kids, you're not to feed them." He looked at her bewildered for a moment so she clarified for him. "He's seven days old, Baby, he can't eat solids yet."  
  
"Oh, I forgot," he nodded laughing and she joined him. "Sorry."  
  
She waved a hand dismissing it and pulled out a jar of apricot baby food and a small spoon covered in white plastic to protect the baby's mouth from the edges of the spoon that might cut his delicate gums.  
  
"Lemme' do it?" He asked holding his hands out for the spoon and jar. She thought a moment, then handed them to him and pulled David out of the stroller and sitting him in her lap while Cole proceeded to open the jar. He stuck the spoon in and pulled out an outrageous amount of the orange goo. Certainty too much for a baby to put in its mouth and held it to the David's lips.  
  
She said nothing, for fear her voice would crack with amusement if she spoke. She simply guided his hand back to the jar, dumped the large glob back into the container and pulled out a reasonable about for a child, then let go to watch him to the rest. After that one helpful hint, Cole seemed to get the message and finished the job doing exactly what Phoebe had shown him.  
  
"All gone," he mused when he was finished.  
  
"Very good job," Phoebe nodded approvingly and clapped David's hands together as if giving him praise.  
  
"Why does he keep looking at me like that?" he asked watching the baby stare at him opened mouthed and curious.  
  
"He's just trying to process who you are, Baby, that's all," she assured him.  
  
"Ohmigod! Phoebe Halliwell!" A woman behind her exclaimed. Phoebe quickly turned around and noticed the voice belonged to one of Piper's good friends, Wendy, who'd had a baby sometime the year before. "When did you have this little guy?" she pointed to David, smiling ear to ear.  
  
"Oh, he's not mine. He's Piper's," Phoebe replied.  
  
"Piper's?" Wendy repeated surprised her friend hadn't told her about her pregnancy. "I thought Piper couldn't get pregnant, that's what she told me last time we talked."  
  
"Well I guess he's a miracle baby then," Phoebe smiled.  
  
Wendy smiled back sweetly, then noticed Cole. "I don't think I've met you before... I'm Wendy Phillips."  
  
"Cole Turner," Cole stood and shook hands with Wendy. "I'm Phoebe's husband."  
  
"Oh yes, I guess I forgot you were married," she nodded looking at Phoebe with a smile saying she approved of Cole. "Well, I think I'd better be off, Jayne's at home with the baby-sitter. Tell Piper I said hi for me."  
  
Phoebe assured her she would and satisfied, Wendy left. "Who was that?" Cole asked as soon as Wendy was out of ear shot.  
  
"A friend, she and Piper were really close before we discovered- our destiny," she finished quickly, not wanting to say anything about her side job as a witch and jinx the three demon free weeks they'd had lately.  
  
"Aren't you afraid she'll tell Piper about seeing us together?" he asked curiously, glancing up in the direction Wendy had disappeared, but she was no where in sight now.  
  
"Oh please. You heard her, the last time they talked was before Piper was pregnant," Phoebe waved a hand dismissing it. Cole opened his mouth to object, but decided against it and sighed. "What do you say we go home and, get to know each other a little better?" Phoebe smiled seductively.  
  
Cole smiled, all for Phoebe's suggestion, but his stomach objected. He hadn't eaten breakfast and had very little for diner the night before, so he was starved. "As appealing as that sounds, I'm starved."  
  
Phoebe spread her arms, indicating they were surrounded by restaurants. "So let's eat!" she exclaimed.  
  
He nodded, but remembered he'd made plans for a romantic dinner tonight with Phoebe. "Well don't eat too much, I have reservations at a nice restaurant tonight."  
  
Phoebe nodded, wondering what he was up to, but quickly dismissed it trying to think up a plan to get out of the house so she could actually go to the dinner.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Five hours later Phoebe walked into the manner, tired and with the beginnings of a migraine. Piper greeted her when she heard the door open and held her arms out for her son. "How'd he do?" she asked as she handed him to her.  
  
"He was great, we had lunch and we shopped around a bit," Phoebe held up two shopping bags of baby clothes. Cole had bought them for David a few days before, but Piper didn't need to know that. Plus it was a good cover for having been at Cole's nearly the entire time.  
  
"Wow," Piper cooed when she saw the store's name on the bag. "You got clothes from Nordstoms, aren't they expensive?"  
  
"Extremly, but I couldn't resist. The outfits are the cutest things," Phoebe sighed.  
  
Piper took the bags into the living room, handed David back to Phoebe, and sat down with the bags. She pulled all eight outfits, two pairs of shoes and a small sailor hat that matched one of the outfits, out of the bags one by one. "Phoebe how can you afford all this? This has gotta' be well over a hundred dollars worth!"  
  
Phoebe raised her eyebrows and looked away as dignified as she could. "I'll never tell." Piper snorted at her sister's attempt to look almighty. "Hey!" Phoebe reached over and slapped Piper's arm playfully. "I don't have any kids myself so it's only right that I spoil my nephew... But I'd be so much better at it if I had a little niece too..." she trailed off and sighed as if truly hurt.  
  
"You'll have to wait a while on that one," Piper replied.  
  
"Does that mean there's another one of these little ones in the thought process?" Phoebe asked hopefully as she bounced David on her knee.  
  
"Not for at least another two years, I don't want my kids to be that close in age," Piper replied.  
  
"Well I'm going to take a shower. I'm going out to dinner with Cameron and his wife tonight. She just had a little girl a few days ago... Who knows maybe it's my future niece-in-law!" Phoebe exclaimed. She stood up and walked a few steps toward the stairs but stopped. "You're welcome to come with if you want?" she offered, knowing full well Piper would decline.  
  
"Naw, that's okay. I think I'll stay here," Piper shook her head.  
  
Phoebe put on a if-that's-what-you-want look and shrugged, "Suit yourself." She turned and headed up the stairs, smiling to herself, her plan was going smoothly. 


	4. The secret is out!!!

AUTHORS NOTE: Before you read this I wanted to clear up that the story will not end with the sisters angry at each other. This disagreement will only continue for a little while, and I promise, the demonic action is on it's way.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"This way Monsieur," an uptight Frenchman in a black and white tux beckoned Glenn and Paige to follow. Glenn in an Armonti, black, business- like suit, and Paige in a short, red dress with a low scooped neck, looked as if they ate at restaurants of this quality every night. Only they knew different.  
  
The waiter lead them to a confidential table, well out of sight of most tables, in the far corner of the restaurant. It was one of the tables reserved for special guests, that wished privacy, but with a small view of what was going on around them, the headwaiter assured them. Glenn held out Paige's chair for her, and when she sat down he pushed her forward, like any gentleman would do, and the host nodded his approval before turning and leaving.  
  
"Do you think he saw through us?" Paige asked Glenn, leaning forward to whisper.  
  
Glenn shook his head. "I'd be surprised if he did... You look beautiful tonight."  
  
Paige smiled. "You already said that."  
  
"And I'll say it again, you look beautiful tonight," he replied with a smile.  
  
Paige laughed and shook her head. "You clean up nicely Glenn. If I didn't know you better I'd think you were born rich-" she stopped herself at the remark and they both laughed. "Wait a minute, you were!" There laughing subsided and she glanced around, noticing there was a bathroom a few tables down. "I think I'll go powder my nose... I always wanted to say that!" she giggled again as she got up with the help of Glenn pulling out her chair, and headed for the bathroom.  
  
When she entered the bathroom she nearly died with astonishment. This bathroom was the largest, cleanest and prettiest public restroom she'd ever seen. The floors were a tan marble that shinned as if they'd just been washed and the sinks were lined up on the opposite wall, also shinning brightly. There were several bathroom stalls, each the size of a handicap stall, and she quickly figured out why when she heard groans of pleasure coming from the far stall. One was distinctly male and the other female.  
  
Paige smiled and shook her head. She'd had sex in a public place before, and there was nothing like it. The thrill of doing something you're not supposed to and the excitement of possibly being caught.  
  
She did a quick check of her make up and noticed that beside every sink was a rotating dish of perfume. All the expensive kinds. She smelled them all and wondered why some of them were so expensive, half of them smelled gross. She found one she liked and sprayed on a little and quickly left, not wanting to be the first thing the two lovers saw when they emerged from the stall.  
  
"Guess what's going on in the last stall of the bathroom?" Paige asked when she reached the table. Glenn pushed her in again and she thanked him with a nod. "Some young lovers are doing the dirty," she replied without waiting for a response.  
  
"I'm not surprised," Glenn smiled and laughed. "There's always one or two couples that slip off into the back in these kinds of places... I ordered for you."  
  
Paige smiled. "Just wondering, but do the waiters purposely wait until the woman leaves before coming over to ask for the order?"  
  
"I would imagine it's implied when their trained," Glenn replied. He glanced over at the restroom Paige had just been talking about. Curiosity was getting the better of him and he wanted to see who the two flames were.  
  
A woman emerged and glanced around for any waiters. He stared at the woman, he knew her from somewhere, but where. Suddenly he remembered and turned to Paige. "Hey, isn't that your sister?"  
  
Paige followed his nod and her gaze landed on Phoebe. "Phoebe?" Paige asked herself aloud in shock. Phoebe opened the bathroom door and nodded to someone. Slowly a man emerged from the bathroom, dark, handsome and way too familiar. "Ohmigod! It's Cole! She was the one having sex in the bathroom!" Paige exclaimed. "Oh hell naw! She is about to get a piece of my mind!"  
  
Paige pushed back her chair and stomped over to Phoebe and Cole, with Glenn quickly following. She stopped in front of them, hands on her hips and lips pursed with anger, but they hadn't noticed for they were involved in a deep kiss. Paige's toe began tapping impatiently.  
  
They heard the sound and turned to Paige. Glenn would've given anything to have a camera at that instant. Paige was shaking from rage, Phoebe was white as a sheet and scared to death, and Cole's surprise written all over his face, it would've been a hell of a picture.  
  
Nothing was said for several seconds.  
  
Paige swallowed. "Get in the bathroom, we're going home," was all she could say. She wanted to scream and yell at Phoebe until she was about to bust, but the other guests in the restaurant hadn't paid to see someone slay their own sister. Home and Piper had been the first things that popped into her mind.  
  
"Paige-" Phoebe began, but Paige glared at her as if daring her to say anything. She simply placed a hand just below Phoebe's neck and pushed her back into the bathroom. Once certain there were no witnesses around she grabbed Phoebe's hand and orbed back to the manner.  
  
Outside Cole and Glenn stared at the bathroom door. Cole cleared his throat. "Maybe we should go too?"  
  
"Are you sure? I mean it looks like Paige is seriously about to bitch Phoebe out-"  
  
"And as soon as Piper finds out she'll do the same." Cole added.  
  
Glenn nodded. "I've seen angry demons before, but I'm not sure I wanna' see two angry witches."  
  
"Yeah well I'm not about to let Phoebe handle her sisters by herself..." he pushed open the men's restroom door opposite the women's. "Even if I die in the process."  
  
Glenn looked curiously after Cole, but quickly followed. "Wait for me!" he exclaimed when he saw Cole glancing around the bathroom for people.  
  
Cole nodded and placed a hand on Glenn's shoulder then looked around again before shimmering to the manner.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Piper!" Paige yelled as soon as the manner came into focus.  
  
"Paige, please don't!" Phoebe begged.  
  
"There is no way in hell I'm about to let you get away with this Phoebe!" Paige yelled. She couldn't control her voice anymore even if she tried.  
  
"Please!" Phoebe begged again.  
  
"Piper! Get down here!" Paige yelled, ignoring Phoebe's constant begging.  
  
"What are you yelling about?" Piper asked as she entered the room from the kitchen.  
  
Paige shot a glance at Phoebe, who was staring at her with pleading eyes. But ignored her and turned to Piper. "Guess who I caught sneaking out of the bathroom at La Pierre's, with none other than, Cole."  
  
"What!" Piper exclaimed. "You were with Cole?" she asked turning to Phoebe.  
  
"Having sex in the bathroom! I heard you two because I went to the bathroom and when I sat back down you and that demon, came sneaking out!" Paige added.  
  
"You and Cole had sex! Phoebe what the hell are you thinking?" Piper yelled at Phoebe.  
  
"He's my husband!" Phoebe yelled.  
  
Paige gave an evil laugh. "Not for long!"  
  
"Phoebe how could you do this to us? To yourself? He's a demon for God's sake!" Piper yelled.  
  
"He won't hurt us Piper!" she shot back.  
  
"You don't know that!" Paige said in disgust.  
  
"Yes I do! He loves me and I love him!"  
  
"He can't love you! He's a demon!" Paige replied.  
  
"Half demon!" Phoebe corrected.  
  
"Half or whole it doesn't matter. He's still a demon!" Paige screamed.  
  
"Look who's talking! You're half and half too!" Phoebe shrieked.  
  
"It doesn't matter what Paige is, she's your sister and you put both of us in danger by being with him! Not to mention my son!" Piper exclaimed.  
  
Phoebe took a deep breath. "I don't care what either of you think! He's my husband and I love him! We've been sneaking around behind your backs for five months without being caught! But I won't do it anymore! I'm moving out!"  
  
"Fine!" Paige screamed.  
  
"You can't move out!" Piper yelled as she turned around. "You're a Charmed One!"  
  
"To hell with the Charmed Ones!" Phoebe snarled.  
  
"You don't mean that!" Piper insisted, still raging.  
  
"Yes I do!" Phoebe replied.  
  
"Where will you go! You don't have any money!"  
  
"Cole has an apartment, Piper! And don't think I'm gonna' tell you where it is either!" Phoebe replied.  
  
"Does it look like we wanted to know? I don't care if I never see you again!" Piper screamed angrily.  
  
"Good because you won't see me, Cole, or my baby ever again!" Phoebe screamed back and instantly covered her mouth in shock. She hadn't ment to tell them her secret yet, or at the rate things were going, ever.  
  
"What?" Three voices exclaimed together.  
  
Phoebe turned to the third voice, that of Cole's. He and Glenn were standing to the side unnoticed throughout the whole episode. His face was shocked, but she could tell he was about to smile so she ran over to him and hugged him.  
  
He wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her close for several seconds, processing what he'd just heard. He was going to be a dad! And this time it was actually his child, not the Source's.... He and Phoebe were going to have a baby!  
  
Cole ducked and pulled Phoebe down with him as a lamp whizzed past their heads. "Let's go!" she whispered urgently in his ear. He nodded and took a tighter hold on her, then shimmered out of the manner and back to their apartment.  
  
Both Piper and Paige screamed in rage to release some of the anger that still welled up inside of them. Meanwhile, Glenn slowly slipped out the door unnoticed.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ralika appeared in a red wave in front of Bera moments after the fight at the Halliwell manner. He was smiling ear to ear, an evil, toothy sort of smile, but a smile none the less.  
  
"What are you smiling about?" Bera asked him lazily. She was draped over her throne, eating grapes being fed to her by a handsome demon with large muscles and long blonde hair.  
  
"I believe your plan just got a whole lot simpler my Lady," he replied. She perked up at the mention of her plan and waved a hand for the handsome young demon to disappear. He bowed his head and disappeared in a wave. Once he was gone she nodded for him to continue.  
  
"The youngest one apparently caught Bethazar and his witch at some fancy restaurant making love in the bathroom -the fight was very juicy, you would've enjoyed it thoroughly. It ended with his witch proclaiming she was moving out of the manner and in with Bethazar... and that she was pregnant with his heir."  
  
Bera smiled brilliantly and clasped her hands together in delight. "Perfect!" she exclaimed. "Anymore juicy news to share?"  
  
He nodded. "Aye. I believe if ever you were to attack, now'd be the time my Lady. They all made it clear that they'd never see each other again, and without the power of three to worry about, the child will be yours for the taking."  
  
She nodded thinking his words over carefully. "I do believe your right Ralika, but as you know Bethazar and his witch have already suffered the misfortune of loosing one child... I believe I'll let them bask in the brilliance for a while... before crushing them."  
  
Ralika and Bera smiled at each other, then began a chorus of evil laughter. 


	5. Life without each other

* * * * * Three Weeks Later- * * * * *  
  
Phoebe sighed and took her glasses off as she sat in front of her computer at work. She had a pounding head ace for days that neither Tylenol nor Advil had had the strength to cure. She rubbed her temples in a clockwise motion wishing the head ace would subside and allow her to finish her days work.  
  
"Knock Knock," someone said from her door.  
  
She opened her eyes to see Julia standing there and smiling at her. "Julia! You're back!" Phoebe exclaimed happily. "How are you?"  
  
"I'm still a little tired, but otherwise all is good," Julia replied. Phoebe smiled and motioned for her to sit but she shook her head, "Oh I'm just here to take Cameron home. I just thought I'd say hi."  
  
"Well it's good to see you up, Cameron had said you weren't feeling that great," Phoebe nodded.  
  
"Thanks," she nodded. "The baby took a lot outta' me. None of them thought I could get her through, but I showed them."  
  
"And you don't look any different from the last time I saw you," Phoebe replied.  
  
Julia rolled her eyes, but smiled. "So I heard Piper had her baby, a little boy right?"  
  
Phoebe stiffened, she hadn't seen her sisters in three weeks and she sorely missed them, but she knew there was no going back. She nodded. "David Bryan Wyatt."  
  
Julia smiled. "A little birdie told me your pregnant too." Phoebe smiled shyly but nodded anyway. "They'll be best friends, no doubt."  
  
"No doubt," Phoebe repeated.  
  
"I should go, Cameron doesn't like to wait," Julia said and came around to the other side of the desk and hugged her. "I suppose you should be getting home as well, you don't look so good."  
  
"Head ace," Phoebe pointed to her head.  
  
"I'll get someone to bring you some medicine," she replied and Phoebe nodded thankfully. "Oh and, congratulations," Julia added as she walked out the door.  
  
"Thank you," she replied and turned back to her computer. All she had left to finish was one letter. She opened it and read it:  
  
Dear Phoebe, I just found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago. When I told my boyfriend, he freaked. I really want this baby with him but I can tell he's not so sure about it. What should I do? Confused, Amanda Rose  
  
Phoebe put the letter down and typed it out, thanking God it was short. She quickly wrote a response suggesting that if her boyfriend has a fear of being a father, that she introduce him to some babies she knew. Explaining that this might help him to see that babies aren't all that bad and that parenthood is a really a wonderful thing.  
  
She added a few more details, printed it out and put it on her boss, Elise's desk as she left. She thanked the heavens that she was finally free to leave and headed home with one thing on her mind: rest.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Piper rocked David slowly in the rocking chair by her bed as she fed him. She was more tired than she wanted to admit. There were so many things that needed to be done, but all were second to David's needs. She and Paige were both beginning to realize how helpful Phoebe had been around the house, and with David.  
  
Neither of them would admit that they missed her though. She had betrayed them and that was reminder enough of why she was no longer there.  
  
Leo hadn't been all that happy when he heard of what happened. Not just because Phoebe and Cole had been sneaking around, but also because of the way his wife and her sister had handled it. Breaking up the Power of three wasn't such a great idea, especially when the demonic activity had been zilch for so long a period of time. He and the Elders were getting worried there was something in the works in the underworld.  
  
At the thought of Leo, he suddenly orbed into the room. Piper jumped a little but relaxed when she saw it was only him. "Hi Honey," she greeted with a smile.  
  
"Hi," he smiled back.  
  
"Have you found out anything about the underworld's plan yet?" she asked.  
  
He shook his head. "Everything's quite, there've been few attacks on any witches lately and no rumors are circulating that we've heard... I just thank God Phoebe's safe with Cole."  
  
Piper stiffened at the mention of her sister's name. "What makes you think she's safe with him?"  
  
"Piper you and I both know Cole's not gonna' let anyone lay a hand on Phoebe," Leo replied. He knew his wife was still angry with Phoebe, but he loved Phoebe and didn't want to hear her or Paige talking bad about her when he knew they both missed her.  
  
Piper rolled her eyes in response and handed David to him. He took him delicately and finished feeding him. When he was done he raised him in the air above his head, then threw him up a few inches and caught him several times. The act drew giggles from David and he smiled brightly, exposing gums, absent of teeth.  
  
"I think I'm gonna' take David up there and show all my friends," Leo told her after a moment of thinking. Piper nodded and he orbed out, not to the heavens like he said, but to Phoebe.  
  
He appeared in the middle of a large luxurious apartment. He glanced around taking note of everything. Behind him was the front door, to his left was a nice size kitchen and in front of him were stairs and the living room and to his right was a kitchen table. His gaze went up the stairs to a loft. From what he could tell it served as an office or library, but to the left of the top of the stairs was a door and a bathroom. He saw there wasn't much furniture, mainly the necessities.  
  
David began to cry noisily and he glanced around as he began to rock David in his arms. He looked up when the bedroom door opened and Phoebe walked out carrying an athame in hand.  
  
"Leo?" she asked at the top of the stairs.  
  
"Hey Phoebe," he smiled at the surprise on her face.  
  
"What're you doing here?" She asked coming down the stairs.  
  
"I came to check on you." He replied. "I wanted to make sure you were all right."  
  
"Oh I'm fine," she said as she reached the last stair and came over to him, she hugged him, then kissed David even though he was crying. "May I?" she asked and nodded toward David.  
  
Leo nodded and handed him to her so she could attempt to quiet him. "Where's Cole?" Leo asked looking around.  
  
"Oh he's not home yet," she replied over her shoulder as she walked over to the couch and sat down, and motioned for him to sit next to her. "How is everything?" she asked.  
  
He could hear the definite at the manner at the end of the sentence. "We're all good. Paige got promoted to Social Worker finally so she's pretty pshyced about that."  
  
"That's great, I know she really wanted it," Phoebe nodded.  
  
Leo nodded too. "...They both miss you, they just won't admit it."  
  
"I miss them too."  
  
"Then why don't you come back?"  
  
Phoebe looked away. "It's not that easy, Leo. After our fight... I don't think any of us could forgive each other."  
  
"I think you'd be surprised," Leo raised his eyebrows.  
  
Phoebe sighed and looked at him. "If I did come back, I'd have to give up Cole... I don't think I could do that again, especially now."  
  
"Why now?" he asked curiously.  
  
"They didn't tell you?" He shook his head wondering what they hadn't told him. "Leo... I'm pregnant. And right now, making sure she lives to be born... that's the most important thing to me."  
  
Leo was silent for a few seconds, then pointed to the athame she'd set down on the table in front of them. "Is that what that's for?"  
  
Phoebe gave a small laugh. "Yeah, Cole gave that to me to protect myself when we found out I don't have my powers anymore."  
  
"You don't have your powers?" He seemed genuinely surprised.  
  
She shook her head. "Piper and Paige still have theirs?"  
  
He nodded and opened his mouth in concern but was interrupted by the door being opened. They both turned to it as Cole walked in. "Honey!" he exclaimed before he realized she wasn't upstairs.  
  
"Hey Baby, did you have a nice day?" she asked getting up and walking over to him.  
  
"It was okay, you?"  
  
"I had a head ace the whole day," Phoebe replied and hugged him, then kissed him deeply.  
  
He noticed the baby in Phoebe's arms and looked around the apartment. "Leo, what're you doing here?" asked when he finally noticed him.  
  
"He came to check on me," Phoebe replied.  
  
"I was worried," he added.  
  
"That was nice," he smiled at Leo and he and Phoebe walked back over to him. Cole sat in the arm chair by the couch and Phoebe sat in his lap.  
  
"I was just telling Leo I don't have my powers anymore, and it seems Piper and Paige still do," she informed Cole.  
  
"How can they still have their powers?" Cole asked Leo.  
  
Leo shrugged. "I'll ask the Elders before I go back."  
  
Phoebe nodded then turned to Cole. "Do you want something to drink?"  
  
"Coke," he replied.  
  
"How 'bout you Leo, you want something too?"  
  
"Coke's good," he nodded.  
  
She nodded and got up, then returned with three cokes and distributed them while Cole and Leo continued to talk about anything that came to mind.  
  
After forty-five minutes of catching up, they finally said good night and Leo and David returned to the manner, promising to ask the Elders about her lack of powers in the morning, and that he'd stop by the newspaper and tell her their vertic.  
  
"You look tired, maybe you should go to bed," Cole mused as he examined Phoebe's slouched position and drooping eyelids.  
  
"I think you're right," she nodded, then got up and headed upstairs. She stopped on the landing when she realized he wasn't following. "Aren't you coming?"  
  
He shook his head. "I've got some work to do, but I'll be up shortly."  
  
"All right, love you," she sighed and continued up the stairs.  
  
"Love you too," he replied. He watched Phoebe enter their bedroom, but didn't move until she turned out the light. Sighing to himself, he picked up his briefcase and headed upstairs to his office.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Where've you been?" Piper asked Leo when he appeared in the kitchen. Her hands were on her hips and she didn't look too happy. "David must be starving!" she continued and took him from Leo.  
  
"We fed him," Leo assured her.  
  
"How?" Piper asked. She seriously doubted there were bottles of baby food just laying around in heaven.  
  
Leo stuttered a little. "Uh-, we, uh, we had food."  
  
Piper was suddenly suspicious. Her husband wasn't a good liar, and he knew it. She bent down and kissed David on the forehead. He smelled oddly of perfume, not her perfume, though it was a familiar scent. "Why does he smell like Phoebe's perfume?" she asked, glaring at Leo.  
  
He stuttered again. "Uh, I-I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"You went to see Phoebe didn't you?" Piper asked, ignoring his pitiful attempt to sound innocent.  
  
"Piper! I have no idea-" he stopped when he realized it wasn't working, "-Yeah okay. I went to check on Phoebe."  
  
Piper grunted. Something she did when she was angry, but not extremly angry. "Leo!" she exclaimed through gritted teeth. "What happened to 'She's safe with Cole'?"  
  
"I wanted to make sure..." he saw the far away look in Piper's eyes and knew she was wondering if she was okay. "She and Cole are great, they've got a real nice apartment..."  
  
Piper nodded as Paige entered, she'd obviously heard what Piper and Leo were talking about because she didn't look too happy.  
  
He continued. "They found out what the baby is, it's a girl. Cole's painting her room light pink," Piper and Paige nodded in an attempt to look like they weren't pay attention. "Oh, I've got to wake up early so I can go ask the Elders something for Phoebe."  
  
"What?" Paige asked.  
  
Leo paused. He knew if he told them about Phoebe not having her powers they'd be worried, it was a good idea. "Phoebe doesn't have her powers."  
  
"She doesn't have any powers?" Paige repeated, trying to control her concern.  
  
Leo shook his head. "I think she may've lost them when you guys fought."  
  
"But we didn't use our powers against each other this time," Piper replied.  
  
"This time?" Paige repeated.  
  
"Pre-you," Piper replied. "Prue, Phoebe and I got into this huge fight a while back and we use our powers against each other and we lost them."  
  
Leo nodded. "Guess you'll have to bond again if Phoebe's gonna get her powers back huh?"  
  
Piper and Paige looked at each other then turned back to Leo . "That depends. Is she gonna leave her husband?" Paige asked.  
  
Leo sighed, he hadn't had much hope that the mention of them bonding again would work and they had demolished it in less than five seconds. But he had another plan. "Phoebe told me the most important thing to her is making sure her baby lives. Now I know neither of you want her to loose her baby again. Why can't you just accept that Phoebe loves Cole and bond again before it's too late? Piper, do you really wanna loose another sister?"  
  
For a moment he thought he'd gotten though, and for a moment he might have, but Piper turned to him stone faced. "Phoebe betrayed us. Us Leo! Her sisters, we're all she has left!"  
  
He was silent for a moment. "You're wrong. She has me, and she has Cole." He stayed a moment longer for effect, then orbed out to where ever it was that he orbed out to.  
  
Paige and Piper looked at each other. Both wondering if he was right, but neither would admit it. Phoebe was gone, she'd chosen her husband over her sisters for the second time. This time they wouldn't be so forgiving. 


	6. Plans

Early the next morning around eight thirty, Leo orbed into Phoebe and Cole's luxury apartment. He'd just returned from his bosses headquaters in the sky, but before that he'd gone to the manner for breakfast. The cold hard stares he'd gotten all morning long from his wife and sister-in-law would've enough frozen Saten himself. He smiled to himself thinking that at one time Cole had been Saten in some form or another, but he pushed his thoughts away when he noticed Cole coming down the stairs in a suit and tie.  
  
"Morning," he smiled.  
  
"Good Morning Leo," Cole said brightly, obviously something had gotten his spirits up this morning.  
  
"What's got you so happy?" he asked curiously.  
  
Cole smiled brighter. "This morning is the first morning in two weeks that Phoebe hasn't woken up and ran for the bathroom."  
  
Leo laughed. He remembered the mornings when Piper had woken up sick to her stomach. The day when she finally stopped throwing up was the day he'd stayed home and made love to her all day, ignoring all calls from the elders and from anyone else for that matter. "Guess that means you're a third of the way there."  
  
"Six months!" Cole nodded smiling and shaking his head.  
  
"You think you're happy now you just wait until she grabs your fingers for the first time just after she's born," Leo reminnised for a moment. The first time he'd held David after he was born, David had looked up at him curiously and grabbed his finger. Amazingly strong for a newborn, but that one act had instantly won Leo over, and he'd been completely in love with his son eversince. "There's nothing like it."  
  
Cole shook his head and smiled. "Phoebe's in the bathroom... I think she's making a ceramony outta it, but I could be wrong." They laughed together a short while, then Cole looked at his watch and realized how late it was. "Ah, I gotta go... Phoebe! I'm leaving now, and Leo's here!" he yelled. "See ya'," he waved as he walked out the door.  
  
"Bye," Leo gave him a little wave and turned back to the stairs as Phoebe decended them.  
  
"Hey Leo," she greeted with a warm smile.  
  
He glanced her over and noticed something he hadn't the night before, her stomach had gotten bigger. It wasn't anything anyone who didn't know her would notice, but it was ever so slightly bigger. "Hey," he replied. "I just got back from up there," he pointed up and she nodded to a chair for him to sit. "They're not exactly sure what happened to your powers... Are you sure they're gone? Maybe you just haven't touched anything to get a preminition."  
  
"They're gone Leo," she comfirmed. "I've tried to levitate, but I can't. You've got to figure out what's going on, I hate being stuck as a mortal."  
  
He nodded, when his wings had been clipped he'd hate being mortal too. "They're working on it. In the meantime they want you to be as catious as you can. There hasn't been any demonic activity in a long while and we're afraid something big is in the works."  
  
Phoebe nodded.  
  
He nodded as well. "Call me if you're attacked. I have a bad feeling about you being helpless like this."  
  
"I'm not helpless Leo, I still have martial arts... That's not a power," she reminded him. He smiled slightly, though he was still uneasy about it. "So... Piper saw through you didn't she?"  
  
He looked at her confused and she laughed.  
  
"You look as though you didn't sleep that well. That could only mean one thing, she put you in the dog house." She fought back a smile, but it seeped through.  
  
"She smelled your perfume on David. Neither of them were too happy, but even if they won't admit it, they were worried when I told them you didn't have your powers," he replied.  
  
She nodded and acted as though she weren't interested, but he could tell deep down she was. He knew he had to repair the sister's relationship fast, before it was too late, but he wasn't sure how to go about doing it.  
  
"Well I've gotta go to work early today if I wanna get off early. Cole and I are going to Rooms To Go Kids later and see if we can find a nice bedroom set for Cassandra," Phoebe explained.  
  
"Cassandra?" Leo repeated.  
  
"It's just a thought, we've got a few names in mind... I've been surfing the internet," she clarified with a smiple shrug. "What do you think about Raven?"  
  
"I think the desicion is up to you," Leo replied. "But, by they way... She'd have to look like Prue or Paige to pull off Raven."  
  
"My thoughts exactly!" she smiled and waved as he orbed out.  
  
Leo orbed into the manner a couple hours later. He'd been up with his bosses trying to figure out reasons why Phoebe didn't have her powers, when her sisters did, eversince he'd left the apartment. So far they hadn't come up with any possible answers, but they were still working on it.  
  
He glanced cautiously around the foyer, no one was there from what he could tell. It was fine by him though, as long as he stayed out of Piper's path until she cooled down, he would be happy. At the thought of Piper she walked into the room on her way to the kitchen.  
  
"Hey, where ya' been?" she asked smiling brightly.  
  
He looked curiously at her. "Uh, up there," he hesitated slightly before adding, "And with Phoebs."  
  
Piper nodded. "Did they find anything out?"  
  
He shook his head, intrigued that she cared enough to ask, or maybe she'd just let her gaurd down since Paige wasn't around. "Nope, not yet."  
  
She nodded again. "Paige and I were talking and we came to the conclusion that we should turn the extra room into David's room."  
  
Not Phoebe's room, the extra room. That's what they'd been calling it. All the time they'd tactfully avoided using her name or any refrence to her, it made Leo slightly mad. "Sure, using Phoebe's old room is a great idea, but what if she decides to move back in?"  
  
"I don't think she will since she and Cole have and apartment together now. What do you say? Wanna go shopping for furniture?" she asked smiling at him hopefully.  
  
Suddenly he had an idea. Phoebe and Cole were going shopping for furniture today too. Maybe if he could delay it a little, Piper and Phoebe would end up shopping at the same store at the same time. Surely they'd have to confront each other then! I'm brilliant he thought and smiled. "Sure, but can it wait a while? I've got some work to do," he asked.  
  
She frowned, but sighed. "All right, don't be too late. I wanna go before five."  
  
Quickly he calculated if that was the right time. If Phoebe usually leaves for work at nine and gets home at six, then she should get home around five-thirty today. If he and Piper left at five they'd surely still be there when Phoebe and Cole got there. "Perfect! I'll be here," he nodded. He kissed Piper quickly on the cheek and orbed out to no where in particular, just to wait until five.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Ralika leaned angrily against the hard stone wall of the Bera's chambers. He was getting tired of waiting for the attack. He wanted to have the baby now, but Bera had insisted upon waiting.  
  
"The longer we let them dwell in the happiness, the more pain it will cause them," she had told him. True she wanted the Witch/Demon child within her, but she knew there'd be much joy in watching Bethazar and his witch mourn the loss of they're child, again.  
  
Ralika growled impatiently as Bera consulted the Waters that Tell the Future. It was a large stone well in the middle of her chambers with some sort of special water, Bera had always kept the origin of the water a secret. And only she could conjure the images she saw in the water. The well had been a gift from a Source that lived long ago, a former lover so it was rumored.  
  
Bera's soul purpose on either planes was to sire magical children. Sometimes the child would be of her own blood, but other times she stole child from the womb of another being of power, to raise them in the dark arts.  
  
In spite of Bera's age, she was well over a thousand, she retained the features of a twenty something mortal woman and the figure of a madien. She'd birthed well over twenty-five children, not including her own five sons and nine daughters.  
  
Daughters of her own blood followed their mother's example and sired their own children as well. Each of them were as beautiful, cunning, and intelligent as she, as were they're blood daughters. Her sons sired their children in mortal women, occassionally an upper level demon, but mainly mortals that were sure to die in childbed.  
  
Ralika was abruptly pulled from his thoughts when he heard a small cry come from his mistress. His gaze shot up to see her smiling with glee. That could mean only one thing: the plan to steal the witch's child would succeed.  
  
"I saw the child!" Bera exclaimed excitedly. "Beautiful as her mother, smart as her father, and as powerful as both combined!" she sighed and sat down in a chair pulled up by servant. "We'd better watch our backs with this one, Ralika, she could be a new Source!"  
  
Ralika's eyes widened. Eversince Bera was a child, he'd tended to her as a child, she'd wanted to birth the Source. It was a goal of both of them. "Well have to make sure she's trained properly," he grinned.  
  
"And that she depends solely on us for all her needs. Who knows, we could rule the underworld through her!" Bera giggled at the thought. Something Ralika hadn't heard her do since before her mother died.  
  
Sure Bera was a a cold hearted demon, but her mother made sure all her children recieved compassion from her, for the same reason Bera cared for all her children: in the event one of them bore a a child from a prophecy they wanted a direct path to power. And it just so happened that this child could very well be the root of an ancient prophecy.  
  
"I believe we should attack soon, before the good in the mother has a chance to corrupt the child beyond repair," Ralika replied eagerly.  
  
"I believe you're right," she answered with a slight nod of her head. "We attack, tonight." 


	7. Happiness

Piper pulled her Jeep Grand Cherokee into the closest parking spot she could find at Rooms To Go Kids later that day. She nodded to Leo who returned the nod and together they both got out of the car.  
  
She groaned as a large drop of rain landed on the middle of her head. When they'd left the manner twenty minutes ago it had been a nice partly cloudy day, but as the drive to the store progressed, it had gotten darker and foggier. All the promises of a near torrential down pour. Quickly she and Leo ran to the doors and inside as the one rain drop quickly multiplied into hundreds.  
  
"Pew!" Leo sighed once inside the safeness of the warehouse. "It sure is raining!"  
  
"Yeah and I didn't bring my umbrella," Piper grumbled. "I hope David doesn't get too scared with all the thunder," she added when lightening cracked and thunder boomed almost instantly. They'd left their son at home with Paige and Glenn upon Paige's request.  
  
"Paige can handle him," Leo replied.  
  
Piper nodded reluctantly and began down the closest isle of bedrooms. All displays were set up like and actual bedroom with fake walls and carpet, even wall paper matching the theme of the bed sets. "Awe look how cute!" Piper pointed to a white canopy bed with a bedside table, two dressers, a desk, and a matching lamp. All had pink flower stenciling, completely girl. "Yeah it's really nice Piper, but there's one problem," Leo replied. Piper looked at him curiously. "David's a boy."  
  
Piper slouched noticeably and gave him an nasty look, but quickly smiled. "I guess we gotta keep trying for a girl then, huh?"  
  
"Maybe later, at home preferably?" Leo replied and directed her to keep moving.  
  
"Awe, but were surrounded by beds!" Piper teased.  
  
Leo glanced back at her and smiled, but kept moving on down the isle. She ran and caught up with him, linking her arm through his. "You know, we already have a crib. All we really need is a dresser or two until he's old enough to sleep in a bed."  
  
"I've thought that through and you're right, but I want the dressers to match the crib. So, we can come back later and get the bed and then everything'll match," she replied, smiling up at him.  
  
He nodded, she was right, as usual. He was glad she and Paige had gotten over his visit with Phoebe and were talking to him now, even if that wouldn't last long with what was about to happen.  
  
What he'd begun to dread happened forty-five minutes later. He and Piper'd picked out a nice Honey Oak set of dressers and a few other odds and ends that matched the crib, for a reasonable price. Things were going so smoothly between them and Piper had actually said Phoebe's name once or twice instead of 'my other sister'.  
  
"Lemme' just enter this in the computer and you can be on you're way, Mrs...?" the sales woman trailed off, she'd forgotten their last name already. But who could blame the old woman, she must've been over seventy and still working.  
  
"Halliwell," Piper provided.  
  
"Oh yes, I remember now," the old woman nodded. "You told me to call you Phoebe. It's just when you get old you start to loose a few things up here," she pointed to her head smiling.  
  
Piper looked at Leo at the mention of Phoebe's name. How would the woman know her sister's name? her eyes asked Leo. He shrugged innocently in response.  
  
"Something wrong?" the woman asked noticing the looks that passed between the two.  
  
"My name's Piper," Piper corrected. "We were just wondering how you knew my sister's name."  
  
The old woman looked somewhat embarrassed. "Oh I'm so sorry! I must've mistaken you with that other young couple that walked in a few minutes ago," she threw her arms up in the air and smiled. "Well that proves I'm getting old."  
  
"Other young couple?" Piper repeated. "What were their names?"  
  
The old woman thought while she typed in the computer. "Oh I can't remember the young man's name, but his wife's name is Phoebe. Pretty little thing, couple months pregnant so I understand... Here's your credit card back."  
  
Piper turned to Leo with her hands on her hips wearing an expression that said it was all his fault. "Leo!" she exclaimed.  
  
"What?" he asked innocently. He noticed her gaze narrow, not on him but something beyond him. He turned around and saw Phoebe and Cole standing next to the same bedroom set Piper had pointed out earlier. They obviously hadn't noticed them yet.  
  
"Leo!" she exclaimed again. "You set this up didn't you?"  
  
"Me?" he asked in surprise. He held the expression for several seconds, but could soon tell she wasn't buying it. His shoulders slouched. "I just thought if you two saw each other you'd have to talk."  
  
"Leo!" she exclaimed again. "I don't want to talk to her, I don't want to see her, I don't want to be anywhere near her!"  
  
"Now that's enough, Piper, she's your sister!" Leo replied angrily. By this time Phoebe and Cole had recognized the voices of their family members and walked over to them, but kept a safe distance.  
  
"I don't care who she is Leo! She betrayed us!" Piper exclaimed. She realized they were standing right there, but she was so angry she didn't care.  
  
"Is that what you think? That I betrayed you?" Phoebe asked before Leo could retaliate.  
  
"You most certainty did! Sneaking around with that d-" she remembered the sales woman was standing right next to her and corrected herself. "DA!"  
  
"I love that 'DA' Piper, why can't you understand that I did this out of love?" Phoebe asked.  
  
Piper snorted. "He doesn't know how to love Phoebe! He's just gonna hurt you again anyway! After all you two've been through I'd think you'd realize that by now!"  
  
She was silent for a moment. "After all that we've been through, how could I not love him?" she asked quietly.  
  
"This is too much! She's too naive, Leo, let's go," Piper told him and stalked out of the store and into the stormy night. Leo looked helplessly at Phoebe and Cole then back in the direction his wife had stormed off into. "Go Leo, we understand," Cole nodded for him to go after his wife. He thanked them with a smile and picked up Piper's forgotten credit card off the desk and ran after her.  
  
Cole looked down at Phoebe who was staring after Piper quietly. "Honey, do you wanna go home?" he asked.  
  
"No," she shook her head. "We've been planning to come here for days, let's just finish shopping."  
  
He nodded as she turned back to the isles, catching a glance of the old sales woman standing behind the counter looking in surprise at what had just gone on in front of her.  
  
"Family issues. My wife's sister's don't like me all that much," he explained, careful to leave out details.  
  
"I can tell!" she exclaimed laughing as she shook her head. Cole smiled at her and hurried off to catch up with Phoebe.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Paige noticed Glenn staring at her from across the table. He had a sort of loving look about him that made her want to giggle. She surpressed the urge, "What?"  
  
He shook his head as if saying 'nothing', and glanced back down at the plate of spaghetti in front of him. He sighed and looked back up at her. His mind racing with thoughts. He loved Paige dearly, more than a 'really good friend' as she sometimes put it.  
  
He wanted to be with Paige, he'd always wanted to be with her. Ever since he was in seventh grade he'd known she was the one for him, but he'd always feared he acted to childish for her tastes. More than once he'd almost purposed, but he always seemed to be interrupted. The latest time was at the fancy French restaurant a few weeks back when Paige discovered Phoebe and Cole had been sneaking around.  
  
He sighed at the thought, it had been perfect too. The table was secluded from almost everyone, the restaurant had been classy and romantic, and the ring, it was a perfect solitaire set in platinum silver.  
  
But once again he had a plan. Tonight was the night, tonight he'd ask her interruption or no. With the baby upstairs sleeping, and Piper and Leo shopping now seemed like the perfect time. Now all he had to do was summon up the nerve.  
  
Paige dropped her fork. "Okay spill," she demanded.  
  
"Huh?" he asked surprised, she'd caught him off guard.  
  
"You've got that look, like you're thinking about something. So spill, you know what happens when you think too hard," she replied with a playful smile. He smiled back. She knew him so well. "It's just... Well there's something I've been wanting to ask you for a long time..." he trailed off as she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
He could've been mistaken, but the could've sworn he'd heard hopefulness in her voice. He swallowed deeply and stood up. "I know this isn't very romantic, but," he walked over to her, kneeled and pulled out the box from his pocket. "Paige Matthews, will you marry me?" He opened the box, revealing the precious ring he'd carried with him for months.  
  
Paige's hands flew to her mouth in shock. She loved Glenn and she'd been secretly hoping that one day he'd ask her to be his wife, but this had honestly caught her by surprise.  
  
She nodded vigorously. "Yes, Glenn, I'll marry you."  
  
Glenn stopped holding his breath and smiled brightly. He removed the ring from the box and placed it carefully on the ring finger of her left hand. She smiled at him and gazed at the ring happily. All at once she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I thought you'd never ask!" she exclaimed.  
  
"Well I tried so many times, but we were always interrupted," he replied, smiling from ear to ear.  
  
They both jumped a little off guard when they heard the front door slam. It opened again and closed, this time much quieter.  
  
"Piper please just hear me out. I was just trying to help," they heard Leo's pleading voice.  
  
"Well don't help Leo, it doesn't need helping!" came Piper's angry voice. Together they walked into the foyer smiling, Paige making sure her ring hand was out in the open so maybe Piper would notice. "Hey guys what happened?" she asked cheerfully.  
  
"Leo set it up so that we'd be at the furniture store at the same time Phoebe and Cole would be there!" Piper shot angrily.  
  
"Leo!" Paige exclaimed.  
  
"I didn't make it the exact time, just around the same time!" Leo replied in defense.  
  
"That must've been a scene," Glenn mused.  
  
"No actually Piper was the one making a scene, Phoebe just stood there and took it all," Leo replied staring at Piper, a little anger in his voice. "She did not just stand there, she yelled too!" Piper exclaimed. "You're making her seem like she's all innocent."  
  
"I never said she wasn't Piper," Leo replied. "I'm just merely implying that she did what she did for a reason."  
  
"And what reason would that be?" Piper asked looking at him as if daring him to answer. He didn't.  
  
"Okay, changing subject now!" Paige exclaimed, she no longer wanted to talk of Phoebe. She wanted to tell them she was getting married now. Piper sighed and shook her head as she turned from Leo to Paige. Something glinting off Paige's left hand caught her eye and she glanced quickly from the ring back to Paige's smiling face for confirmation. Paige nodded vigorously at Piper's questioning gaze. "Ohmigod!" Piper squealed. "No way! You and you!" she pointed back and forth between Paige and Glenn unable to control her excitement. Paige nodded again and they both ran over to each other squealing in delight and staring at the ring in awe.  
  
Leo looked puzzled from his wife to his sister-in-law to Glenn, wondering what had provoked the sudden change in his wife. "Leo! Paige and Glenn are engaged!" Piper squealed as if reading his thoughts.  
  
"Really?" he asked Glenn smiling. Glenn nodded.  
  
"Congratulations," Leo shook his hand, "You've won a Halliwell. All four of them are the finest women around."  
  
Piper heard this and smiled at the reference to her older, deceased sister, Prue, but realized it also included Phoebe. "Oh stuff it Leo! We have to celebrate!" 


	8. Pain

Lightening flashed brightly, filling Phoebe's bedroom with light for a full three seconds. She sat up quickly as a nightmare ended, breathing hard and sweating slightly. She took a deep breath as thunder roared, storms always made her uneasy, they always seemed to come with bad luck.  
  
She rubbed her temples as a miagrane began. With the next flash of lightening it was gone as if it had never been there. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew it wasn't a normal pregnancy symptom, or a normal symptom even if she wasn't pregnant. The miagraines came offten and usually very suddenly, but as quick as they had started they'd disappear. Sometimes the pain was so intense she felt like she would scream.  
  
She ran her hand along the bed next to her and found that it was empty, a flash of lightening confirmed this. She began to count: One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi, Four- thunder cracked loudly. They weren't even four miles away from the heart of the storm.  
  
Slowly she got up out of bed and put on a long silk robe that matched her silk night gown. When she was in the door way she noticed Cole sitting at the computer in his office. He was glancing at a heavy set book next to him, typing, then glancing at the book again. "Cole?" she asked him.  
  
He looked up and smiled. "What are you doing up?" he asked.  
  
"I had a nightmare and I've got the munchies," she replied. "Plus the storm was freakin' me out. What are you doing?"  
  
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I'm researching a case that's gonna make us rich. You remember that sheriff that was murdered in his driveway a few months ago, Marshall Armstrong?" Phoebe nodded. "Well they suspect that his running mate, Carl Brown, was the one that murdered him, or at least had a hand in it."  
  
Phoebe winnced. "I hope you didn't get him."  
  
"I didn't, I'm repersenting Armstrongs' widow. But this is gonna be a hell of a case. May last a while." Cole explained.  
  
"Well isn't all this research ment for your assistant?" she asked curiously.  
  
"My assistant, is out, ironically on maternal leave. Seems like everyone and their cousin's decided to have a baby this year," he replied.  
  
"Well at least she'll have lots of friends," Phoebe smiled, touching her stomach affectionately. He smiled back and she turned and walked down the stairs to get something to eat.  
  
He continued typing as he heard her open the refrigorator and rummage around for something to eat. She refused to drink anything else besides water, milk and juice or eat anything other than healthy foods. She hadn't touched anything fattening in over two weeks. Downstairs he heard a crash, like shattering glass.  
  
"Phoebe, you alright?" he yelled.  
  
There was no answer.  
  
"Phoebe?" he repeated.  
  
Still no answer.  
  
He got up and walked over to the rail of the loft and looked down into the kitchen. She was standing with her back to him holding her head in pain, looking as if she might rip her hair out. "Phoebe? Honey are you okay?"  
  
All at once she started screaming in pain. Cole ran down the stairs over to her and caught her as she started to fall. He let her down slowly on the floor as she continued to scream, holding her head in pain. "Phoebe! What's wrong? Phoebe!" he yelled over and over agian, but she just kept screaming.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Okay this is the only thing I could come up with on short notice," Piper told Leo, Paige and Glenn as she walked into the dinning room carrying four bowls of strawberry short cake.  
  
"It looks great Piper," Paige replied as Piper set the bowls in front of each of them. Piper smiled her thanks and motioned for them to dig in. "Open this for me will you?" she asked handing Leo a bottle of wine.  
  
"Wine? at nine-thirty Piper?" he asked surprised but took the bottle from her anyway.  
  
"It goes great with strawberries, plus this is a special occasion," Piper explained. Leo nodded and popped the cork, with some difficulty, and poured four glasses of the wine. "To Paige and Glenn. May your wedding not be inturupted like all the other weddings in this family," Piper mused and toasted to her sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law.  
  
Everyone raised their glasses in response and took a sip of the wine. "Hey that's some of the best wine I've ever had," Glenn complimented. "How old is it?"  
  
Leo looked at the bottle. "1929."  
  
Glenn nodded his approval. "Wine's the best when it's sat longer than fifty years."  
  
The were silent as they ate the Strawberry Short Cake and sipped the wine Piper had provided. Piper was right, the wine and strawberries complimented each other perfectly.  
  
Suddenly the silence was broken by a high pitched scream comming from the sunroom. "Leo! Leo get in here!" they heard a man yell above the screams. "Leo!"  
  
All four of them jumped up and ran into the Sunroom seeing Cole holding Phoebe with one arm under her knees and the other supporting her head. She was screaming painfully and holding her head as if she would rip her hair out at any second.  
  
"What happened?" Leo rushed over to him and helped him set Phoebe on the couch as she continued screaming.  
  
"I don't know! Can you heal her?" he asked frantically.  
  
Leo knelt down beside her without waiting for him to explain and held his hands over her head. She was thrashing around frantically trying to escape the pain, making it impossible for him to hold his hand steadily over her head, the obvious source of the pain. "Somebody hold her still for me, I can't heal her when she's moving like this!" he yelled to Piper and Cole who were the closet to him.  
  
Cole immideately held her legs down from kicking and Piper pinned her arms to her sides without thinking that she was still angry with Phoebe. Seeing her sister in such pain had erased all memory of their petty little quarrel. Upstairs the baby started to cry from the comotion downstairs. "Paige go get David for me," Piper demanded. Paige nodded without question and ran upstairs to quiet the child.  
  
With Phoebe pinned and unable to move anything but her head, Leo was able to hold her head still and heal her at the same time. His hands began to glow a warm yellow color and slowly Phoebe stopped fighting Cole and Piper's attempts to restrain her. Soon she stopped all together and lay quietly on the couch, breathing hard, but looked as though she were sleeping. "Is she gonna be alright?" Piper asked as Leo's hands stopped glowing and he removed them.  
  
"She'll be fine," he turned to Cole. "Cole what happened?"  
  
"I don't know, she was getting something to drink and I heard this crash... I asked her if she was alright but she never answered me. When I looked down stairs she was holding her head, then she started screaming. You're the first thing I thought of so I shimmered her here," he explained. "Do you know what it is?" Piper asked Leo as he stared at Phoebe in concentration.  
  
"No, but is certaintly doesn't sound natural," he replied. "Has this happened before?"  
  
"She's been getting head aces off an on for a while, but nothing this bad," Cole shook his head.  
  
"I better go ask the elders if they know what casued it," Leo told them. He looked up at Piper, "Keep and eye on her will ya?"  
  
"Sure," Piper nodded and he orbed out. 


	9. Reconnecting

Twenty minutes later Leo still hadn't returned with any news of the strange going ons with Phoebe. She rocked David gently to sleep and looked over at Cole. He was sitting with his head in his hands next to Phoebe, he looked as if he were worried sick. "Maybe you should go rest, you don't look so good."  
  
"I'm just worried about her, Piper," he replied, then looked up at her. She could tell there were tears in his eyes. "What if something happened to the baby? I don't think she could stand it if we lost this one too."  
  
"You won't loose her Cole," Piper said firmly. "Phoebe's strong."  
  
"She's right Cole," Paige said from behind them. "Phoebe's not gonna let anything happen to your baby, and neither will we."  
  
Cole smiled slightly. "Does this mean you're not mad at her anymore?" Piper and Paige glanced at each other. "We're not happy with her decision Cole, but we can't make her do anything she doesn't wanna do," Piper replied for them both. Paige nodded in agreement.  
  
"It only took you twenty-eight years to figure that out huh, Piper?" came a weak voice from beside them on the couch. They all glanced over at Phoebe.  
  
"Honey are you alright?" Cole asked her, taking her hand in his own. "I'm fine," she replied.  
  
"Do you want anything?" Paige asked.  
  
"Something to drink would be nice," Phoebe nodded.  
  
"Sure," Paige nodded and went off into the kitchen.  
  
"Uh, maybe I should go?" Glenn told them from a chair on the other side of the room.  
  
Paige nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow." They kissed breifly and he waved to them all as he left.  
  
"Baby go rest, you look like hell," Phoebe told Cole and pushed him lightly away. "Besides, I wanna talk to my sisters alone."  
  
He nodded recluctantly and left, but not before kissing her on the forehead. "Call me if you need me," he said as he walked upstairs to their old bedroom to take a nap.  
  
Phoebe waited until Cole had disappeared up the stairs before turning to Piper. "Piper, I'm sorry for everything," she said slowly. "I realize now why you were so angry with me. I put David in danger and I'm sorry."  
  
Piper shook her head. "Don't worry about it Phoebs. It's over, don't think about it anymore."  
  
"No, there's no excuse for what I did. What if a bounty hunter had followed Cole here and David had been with me? You would've lost your son," Phoebe explained.  
  
Piper nodded slowly. "That was the main reason I was angry with you. But I also realize that you love Cole and that if it hadn't happened now, then it would've happened later. I just didn't wanna' believe it."  
  
"Here you go Sweety," Paige said as she brought a cup of water over to Phoebe.  
  
Phoebe took it and drank deeply. "Thanks, I feel better already," Phoebe smiled as Paige sat next to Piper on the coffee table next to the couch.  
  
Paige nodded and all were silent for a while. "So, Phoebe, we never did figure out when you found out you were pregnant?" Pagie asked.  
  
Phoebe smiled and laughed. "It was the day I went with Piper to her doctor's appointment. Dr. Foster ran out after me when I left and told me I was pregnant... I fainted again." They all laughed at this.  
  
"She told me she was going to get my file!" Piper exclaimed remembering the time Phoebe spoke of. "I should've caught on when she ran out, and then didn't bring back my file... But it was sitting on the desk..." They laughed again. And Phoebe noticed the ring on Paige's finger for the first time. She caught Paige's hand and stared at the ring. "Ohmigod! Is this from Glenn?"  
  
Paige nodded vigerously. "He just asked me tonight!"  
  
"Oh Honey that's great!" Phoebe exclaimed. "I always thoght you two'd make a great couple."  
  
"Thanks," Paige shrugged. "I hope we're as lucky as my two favorite sisters are with their husbands."  
  
"You will be," Piper replied. "And in a few years you'll have little babies to prove it."  
  
"Not for a while," Paige shook her head. "I wanna wait a while for kids." They laughed again at Paige's uneasiness and suddenly Phoebe felt a rush of dizziness.  
  
"Woha!" she exclaimed and held her head.  
  
"Are you alright?" Paige asked quickly.  
  
"Another head ace?" Piper asked.  
  
"Should we call Leo?" Paige added. Phoebe shook the dizziness off. "No, I'm alright. I just got a little dizzy, that's all." Neither Piper or Paige looked convinced, but Phoebe smiled to reassure them. "I'm fine, don't worry so much!"  
  
They heard a heavenly sound behind them and they all looked up to see Leo orbing in. "Hey Leo, did you find anything out?" Paige asked cheerfully. He nodded, then noticed Phoebe was awake. "Oh good, you're up. The Elders think the headaches were a result of visions trying to get through." "Well that must mean my last one was a pretty powerful vision then," Phoebe replied.  
  
"Which also means we may be in trouble," Piper added wearily.  
  
"The book?" Paige suggested.  
  
"But we have no idea what to look up," Phoebe replied.  
  
Together they sat in silence for a few moments, thinking of what they could do to prevent whatever was about to happen. No one spoke, becuase, no one had any idea what to do.  
  
"I have to go help the Elder's think," Leo replied. They all waved to him as he disappeared again to the heavens.  
  
Piper looked Phoebe over, she was in a nightgown and robe, not traditional demon wear. "Uh, Phoebs, maybe you should go change, just in case there's an attack."  
  
Phoebe nodded and turned to head upstairs. She hadn't brought anything with her when she'd left the manner, so all her things were still in her room. Cole had bought her everything she needed with the extra money he was getting off his new case.  
  
On her way to the stairs in the kitchen she noticed a vase of flowers on a table standing just outside the Sunroom. She'd never seen the table or the flowers before. "Hey Piper? When'd you get the new table?" she asked, popping her head back into the room.  
  
Piper's brow furrowed in confusion. "What new table?" she asked, getting up and walking over to where Phoebe was standing. She looked the table over, "That's not mine, Paige?"  
  
"It's not mine," Paige replied joining them in looking at the table.  
  
"Well where'd it come from then?" Phoebe asked.  
  
They glanced back at the table, but it was no longer a table. It was a short green, scaly demon who was sneering at them evily.  
  
"Ohmigod!" Piper immediately threw her hands out to blow him up. He shuttered fighting it, then returned to normal. Piper's power hadn't worked. "Uh-oh!" She grabbed her sisters hands and backed slowly away from the demon.  
  
Suddenly he disappeared in a wave of red. They looked around frantically for him. "Where'd he go?" Paige asked turning around in place.  
  
"I donno," Phoebe replied, glancing into the sunroom. She noticed the floor moving a few feet in front of her, like it was shifting or something. "Uh, what's that?" she pointed to the spot in the floor as a beautiful woman appeared from feet to head.  
  
She was wearing a long red dress with a slit up the side and a low neckline. She was tall and lean, with long, black, spiral curls and bronze colored skin. Her eyes were a shade of brilliant blue, extremly noticable from where they were standing, and her lips were bright red matching her dress.  
  
"Don't you mean who's that?" Piper corrected. 


	10. The attack

AUTHOR"S NOTE: I'm not really that great at describing fighting, but I did my best!  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
The woman gave a chuckle as Piper tried to blow her up. Nothing happened, she didn't even shutter like the green demon had. "Your powers don't work on me witch," she explained. "Give me what I want and I'll leave without a fight."  
  
"Fight?" Paige repeated. "You and what army?"  
  
Bera sneered. In a quick movement she waved her hands, behind her several demons appeared. The green scaly demon from earlier stood in the front, as if he were second in command to Bera. "Give me the child you bear and we will not attack," she told Phoebe.  
  
"Never!" Phoebe replied.  
  
"You just made a huge mistake," the woman replied angrily. She waved her hands again, this time toward the three sisters before her and every demon behind her charged at them.  
  
"Awe man!" Piper exclaimed at the approaching army. There were no more than fifteen of them, but that was 15 too many. Each of them were swarmed with demons.  
  
They fought and kicked and punched as much as they could, even vanquishing a few that weren't immune to Piper's powers. But it was a loosing battle. "Paige go get Cole!" Piper exclaimed, but he was already on the landing to the stairs, the noise of the battle downstairs had woken him. He shot energy balls at the demons, and was soon swarmed with several demons himself.  
  
Phoebe did a roundhouse kick to one of the many demons surrounding her. They weren't attacking her like they were her sisters and Cole, simply trying to capture her for their mistress. But she was not about to let them take her baby, not this time.  
  
Paige began a game of volleyball with a demon, only using an energy ball instead of the traditional ball. She kept up the game with him for several seconds, then turned and threw the energy ball at a demon about to jump on Phoebe's back. Her volleyball opponent quickly produced a fresh energy ball and the game resumed. She continued to trick him by throwing them at other demons, and once faked it and threw it at him instead. He burst into flames a disappeared.  
  
Piper kicked and punched every demon that came her way. Her exploding power wouldn't work on all of them, but her freezing power worked on some. "Paige, call for an athame!" she exclaimed to her sister.  
  
Paige did so and orbed the knife into Piper's hands just as the freeze wore off one of the demons near her. She plunged the knife into it's chest. The demon screamed and disappeared. She continued this with all the frozen demons left. Their number dropped from fifteen to seven, but there were still too many of them and they seemed not to tire.  
  
She cast a glance over to Phoebe, four demons were charging her, and despite her martial arts skills, she was loosing the battle to them. She saw Phoebe leap into the air to avoid a particularly large demon coming at her. She hovered in the air for a few seconds. Weird, she's got her powers back, Piper thought. It must've been that dizziness she felt.  
  
Suddenly she saw Phoebe be thrown against the wall by an unseen force. She was distracted from running over to Phoebe by two charging demons. She plunged the athame into him, he died a fiery death. But the other had much better reflexes than the first and artfully dogged all her attempts to stab him.  
  
Meanwhile Phoebe was knocked out on the floor, no one had noticed she hadn't gotten up from her flight into the wall because they were all to busy trying to save their own lives.  
  
Bera walked up to Phoebe and grabbed her crumpled form by her hair. She yanked her head back and the act drew a painful cry from Phoebe and her eyes fluttered open. "How does it feel to know you'll loose your child again?" Bera whispered evily.  
  
"No! Please don't!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Please!"  
  
Bera ignored her cries and placed a hand on her stomach. She pulled her hand away slowly, as if straining to do so. Phoebe looked down and saw something blue form between Bera's hand and her stomach, it grew bigger and bigger and came with an unbearable pain. She screamed at the pain and Bera continued to pull the baby out of her stomach with her magic.  
  
Several seconds past before anyone noticed her screams of pain. "Phoebe!" Cole yelled while fighting three demons of his own. He glanced over at Paige to see if he could call her to help, but she was playing a new game of volleyball between two demons. His gaze moved to Piper who was still fighting the demon with an athame. No one was free to help Phoebe.  
  
All at once Phoebe's screaming stopped. He stole a glance over at her and saw that Bera was putting the blue substance in her own stomach, Phoebe was knocked out on the ground. Inside the blue substance was the almost unrecognizable form of a three month fetus. His child, and Bera was putting it into her own stomach.  
  
Ruled by anger he shot three energy balls at the demons in front of him, each disappeared in a burst of flames. He ran over to Bera, intending to choke the life out of her but she stopped him with an outstretched hand. "You won't kill me, I hold your child within me."  
  
That made him stop when he realized she was right. If he killed Bera he'd kill the child too. Damn her! he thought angrily.  
  
With a satisfied smile she disappeared and along with her, the remaining three demons. Paige and Piper looked around in surprise as their enemies disappeared, and for the first time, noticed the dent in the wall Phoebe'd flown into and her crumpled from below it.  
  
"Oh God!" Piper exclaimed and rushed over to her, with Paige at her heels. She rolled Phoebe onto her back and felt for a pulse. She found it, weak and barley pumping. "Leo! Leo!" she screamed. "God damn it get down here!" she added when he went to slow for her.  
  
In a swirl of bluish-white light Leo appeared standing next to them. He surveyed the scene in shock. The room looked like a tornado had dropped down, literally, Cole, Piper and Paige were bruised and bloodied, and all three were huddled around Phoebe's unmoving body. He didn't even waste time in asking what had happened, it was obvious. A demon had attacked, but by the looks of them and the room, it looked like there had been more than one opponent for the Charmed Ones.  
  
He knelt down between Piper and Paige and placed one hand above her heart and the other above her head. Slowly he healed her from the inside out. Once he'd healed her concussion he moved that hand above her body searching for another major wound. He sensed one in her womb and began healing that as well as her heart which was slowly beating stronger.  
  
Phoebe's eyes opened slowly and she groaned in pain. Suddenly she remembered everything that had happened. "Ohmigod! My baby! She took my baby!" she exclaimed.  
  
Piper, Leo, and Paige were stunned, they hadn't seen Bera take the child. "Are you sure?" Piper asked.  
  
"It's not there," Leo confirmed as he still held his hand over her womb healing it.  
  
"H-h-how!" Piper asked raging.  
  
"She used her powers," Cole said slowly. They all turned to him. "She pulled the baby out of Phoebe and put her inside herself."  
  
"Why would she do that?" Paige asked.  
  
"It's what she was made to do. She steals magical children from the womb and raises them evil," Cole replied. "I think her name's Bera, I might be wrong though, it could've been one of her daughters."  
  
"So Phoebe's baby is gonna be raised to do exactly what Bera did?" Paige inquired, still confused.  
  
"No, only her blood children will continue doing what Bera does. One's that she's stolen from witches she raises in the dark arts," Leo replied. Cole nodded in agreement.  
  
"Okay, so we look for a vanquish in the book," Piper concluded.  
  
"No," Cole exclaimed as Piper and Paige stood. They turned to him wondering why he'd stopped them. "You can't vanquish her, if you do you'll vanquish the baby as well."  
  
"He's right," Leo nodded. "We have to think of something else."  
  
They stood in silence. The only sound was of Phoebe crying into Cole's shoulder softly. Piper bent down next to her sister and placed a hand on her back. "Don't worry Phoebs, we'll get your baby back this time. I promise."  
  
"How?" Phoebe asked through a sniffle. "We don't even know where she is-"  
  
"That's it!" Paige exclaimed. "We'll find her!"  
  
"And what are you gonna do when you find her? You can't vanquish her, or else you'll kill the baby?" Leo asked.  
  
"We'll let her have the baby and when she does we'll take it from her," Paige replied as if it were that simple.  
  
"Paige-" Cole began shaking his head.  
  
"I know Cole. It's not that simple," Paige cut him off. "But we've got six months to figure out a way to pull it off. That should be enough time, don't you think?"  
  
"It's a good idea, but it's too dangerous," Leo replied.  
  
"Yeah, what if she has more demon-soldiers when we try to get the baby back?" Piper added.  
  
"So we'll all train hard and go over every possible side effect," Paige answered. They were silent. "What other choice do we have?"  
  
Slowly they all nodded, ending last with Phoebe and Cole. Six months, six months until I kill her, Phoebe thought angrily. 


	11. Training and Planning

* * * * * * Five Months Later * * * *  
  
Piper bent over with her hands on her knees breathing hard. Since nine in the morning she and Leo had been training in the basement, she had no idea what time it was now. Leo grabbed a water bottle and tossed it over to her and picked up another one. They both drank deeply.  
  
"You ready to call it a day?" he asked between deep breaths for air.  
  
She nodded, that was all she could do. She flopped down on the mats that had been set out all over the floor and glanced at her watch, 11:24. They had been training for almost two and a half hours, with only the blessed interruption of David's cries. David sat in the carrier by the stairs, where they could keep and eye on him, but where he was out of the way of the brutal training.  
  
Five full months of Monday-Saturday training had tone Piper's muscles all over her body. She'd lost fifteen pounds left from when she'd been pregnant with David, and all the rest had turned to muscle. Leo's body had become very nicely toned as well. His arms were filled with muscle, as were his legs and chest, and he had a well defined six-pack. Piper only had a four-pack, but she knew women didn't get six-packs that easily.  
  
Paige was similarly toned as Piper, if not more so. She and Phoebe trained together after Paige gets home from work and Cole shimmers Phoebe over. After they finished Leo and Cole would train together.  
  
Neither Cole nor Phoebe had ever said anything directly, but everyone else knew they trained again when they got home. Cole would sit in on her training and point out things to her like: "Remember to block her, you don't want her to pin you like I did." or "When she retracts you expand, and when she expands you retract."  
  
Everyone understood the extra training though. They wanted their child back, and all of them were willing to help. Phoebe had taken over in command of the operation, and with Paige suggesting ideas they were the perfect team. They had assigned almost everyone an important roll. Cole had been watching Bera and her guards lately, gathering information on who was where at what time. It had been a huge help. He would be the one to tell them when Bera went into labor and when to attack.  
  
Leo would orb the baby to the manner, and from there he would wait for the sisters to return. Piper had been experimenting with several lethal potions and had made several vials of the most effective so everyone would have something to defend themselves with. Phoebe had claimed that she and she alone would vanquish Bera, and that was her role. Paige would guard the door and warn them if anyone was coming.  
  
They were well aware that there would be guards in her bed chamber after she'd given birth. Getting rid of them was the first thing they would do, the rest would come later.  
  
In the mean time Piper and Paige had cast a spell over Phoebe to make it seem as if she were pregnant during certain times of the day. Mainly when she was at work. They didn't want the hassle of trying to explain how she'd lost the baby and a few months later have her show up with one. A doctor friend of Leo's who was also a fallen Whitelighter would claim that he'd supervised the birth of the child and fill out all the necessary papers. So far there were no holes to speak of.  
  
The only problem was Phoebe. She was so intent on killing Bera she hadn't paid much attention to anything else. She was in danger of loosing her job, because she was constantly going over possible flaws in the plan. She rarely ate and when she did it was only because Piper or Paige force fed her or she was really hungry. And she and Cole hadn't touched each other since the night the child was taken, other than in training and the accidental run in. Piper was sure that wasn't too healthy for a relationship and had said so to her.  
  
Phoebe'd just waved a hand dismissing it with the excuse that they didn't want to risk her getting pregnant again, or else they'd be in even more of a predicament.  
  
The telephone rang and Piper sighed as she pulled herself to her feet, she was acing all over. She made a mental note to take a long hot bath after she answered the phone. "Hello?" she asked.  
  
"Hey it's me," she heard Phoebe say on the other end of the line. "Cole called a few seconds ago, he says there's a lot of activity going on below. Be ready, tonight may be the night."  
  
"Gotcha'," Piper confirmed. "I'll call Paige and give her the heads up."  
  
"Thanks," Phoebe replied. "You mind if I sleep over tonight, so we can all be together just in case?"  
  
"Of course," Piper exclaimed. "You don't have to ask Phoebs, this is as much your house as it is mine and Paige's."  
  
"Thanks Piper, see you tonight," Phoebe replied and Piper could tell she was smiling. They hung up and Piper immediately called Paige and informed her of everything.  
  
Sighing she turned around and noticed Leo in the doorway to the basement holding David on his hip and watching her. "What's going on?" he asked.  
  
"Cole says there's a lot of activity down there," Piper replied.  
  
"She's in labor already?" Leo asked. "But we've still got three weeks to go!"  
  
"Leo, if you'll recall I was five days late. Babies aren't exactly known for being punctual." Piper mused.  
  
Leo sighed and nodded. "I guess I'll go tell the bosses what's up." He orbed out, along with David, leaving Piper alone.  
  
For a split second she wondered what she was going to do without anyone to keep her company, then remembered she had a date with the bath tub. She smiled to herself and ran upstairs before Leo could return and whine about being hungry.  
  
Cole sat silently at his desk in his office at Jack McCarter and Clyde. He seemed as though he were just taking a break from the pile of files in front of him. But that's not what he was doing at all.  
  
Down it the underworld his eyes appeared in Bera's bedchamber. A little trick he'd learned from demon he'd been associated with at the Brotherhood of the Throne. He could spy on people without ever being seen, because the only thing of him that was really there, were his eyes.  
  
He saw Bera laying in her bed propped up by a pillow. She was reading, but every so often she'd tense up and hold her stomach in pain. Contractions. The baby's delivery was close.  
  
Her minion and favorite demon walked into the chamber with a tray of drinks for each of them. He sat the tray down on a table and beckoned to his mistress that it was time for her tonics.  
  
Bera growled, but got up anyway. "What's the use Ralika? She'll just force it out of me anyway!" she plopped down in a chair at the table. "I swear this child doesn't like me."  
  
"Maybe she doesn't," Ralika teased.  
  
"She mustn't," Bera snorted. "Every time I drink one of these things she makes me throw it up. It's like she knows I'm not her real mother."  
  
Cole chucked to himself. That's my girl, he thought happily.  
  
A pretty young girl walked into the chamber with an empty tub. Three more followed with buckets of steaming water. They set the tub in the middle of the room and filled it and then left. As the girl who had carried the tub left, Bera suddenly stood up and shot an energy ball at the girl. The girl screamed painfully and burst into flames.  
  
"Damn this child!" Bera spat. "That's the fifth servant this week!"  
  
"Try to control her Bera, use her powers to suit your needs," Ralika suggested with a shrug.  
  
"I've tried," Bera replied more calmly as she sat down. "She rejects me."  
  
"We left her in her blood mother too long then, the good in the witch has corrupted her," he said. She nodded, reluctantly. "I told you we should've attacked earlier."  
  
She shrugged at his comment. "Well once she's born we can force her to drink the tonics. It'll work just as well."  
  
"And if it doesn't?"  
  
Bera shrugged again. "We'll kill her. There's no use in her if she won't convert."  
  
"Waste of a perfectly good demon," Ralika muttered.  
  
Bera began to say something, but stopped and let of a painful cry. A woman demon close by came over to her and helped her to her bed. "Your contractions are getting closer my Lady."  
  
"How long do you think?" Ralika asked.  
  
"My guess... a little after midnight," she replied.  
  
Cole nodded to himself and shrank back into the shadows and disappeared. That was all he needed to know for now. He'd check back in an hour or so and see how things were progressing. He returned to his office and shook off the dizziness that came with returning. He sighed. In a matter of hours he'd be holding his daughter in his arms, and Bera would be dead.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I really need some help comming up with the perfect name for Phoebe's baby. It's a girl and I'd perfer it mean blessed or hopeful or something, thanks! 


	12. At last

It was now eleven-thirty that night, and everyone was sitting quietly  
  
in the den, waiting for Cole to inform them of the birth. He'd checked in  
  
three hours ago to tell them Bera had gone into labor, but quickly left to  
  
watch.  
  
"Do you think I should take David across the street now?" Paige asked.  
  
Piper nodded. "Cole said midnight and it's almost time." She nodded  
  
and went upstairs to get David.  
  
"All this waiting has made me hungry," Leo said after Paige had left.  
  
"There's left over chicken from last night in the 'frige if you want it,"  
  
Piper replied.  
  
He nodded. "You want something Phoebs?"  
  
"No thanks, I'm good," she replied slowly, not looking at either of  
  
them.  
  
He nodded and left. Piper turned to her sister who was sitting in the  
  
chair to her left, but Phoebe didn't look at her. "What's on your mind?" she  
  
asked, noticing that far away look in Phoebe's eyes which ment she was  
  
thinking hard about something.  
  
Phoebe shook her head with out looking at her.  
  
"Phoebe you can tell me anything," Piper said sweetly. "That's what I'm  
  
here for."  
  
Phoebe didn't respond right away. She continued looking off into  
  
space, but slowly she turned around to face Piper. There were tears in her  
  
eyes, but Phoebe held them back. Piper marveled at her ability to do so, ever  
  
since she was little, Phoebe had rarely ever cried in front of anyone, and  
  
could always hold it in better than anyone she knew.  
  
"I just, it feels like I should be the one..." Piper waited for her to  
  
continue, but she just looked down at her hands.  
  
"Be the one for what?" Piper pressed.  
  
Phoebe sighed and shook her head. "I just can't shake the feeling that  
  
she knows."  
  
"That it's not you that carries her?" Piper asked, and Phoebe nodded.  
  
Piper smiled, "Well that's a good thing, Phoebs. At least she knows who you are... Besides she's making life a living hell for Bera, you should be proud of her."  
  
Phoebe smiled slightly. "You're right. But I wish I was the one giving  
  
birth to her..."  
  
"Oh, so that's what this is all about... Phoebe she's your first child,  
  
well the first one that's actually yours and Cole's, it's only natural to want to  
  
be the one to give birth to her."  
  
Phoebe smiled and shrugged. "There's nothing natural about this  
  
Piper."  
  
Piper waved a hand. "You know what I mean. Besides, there is one good  
  
thing about it," Phoebe looked at her curiously, "You won't loose your figure."  
  
Phoebe couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"Well it's true!" Piper protested.  
  
She continued to laugh. "Thanks Piper, I needed that!"  
  
"Hey, what're sisters for?" Piper giggled.  
  
"Do I hear laughing?" Paige asked skeptically, as she returned from  
  
running David across the street.  
  
"Guilty!" they both exclaimed at the same time, which only made all  
  
three of them laugh harder. Paige walked over to the couch and sat down  
  
next to them smiling and shaking her head. She was happy to see Phoebe  
  
happy again.  
  
She watched them whisper something to each other, then look over at  
  
Paige and laugh. "What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked and  
  
self consciously wiped her face. All at once both Piper and Phoebe lunged  
  
over to her and began tickling her. "Ohmigod! Stop! Stop!" she exclaimed  
  
laughing so hard she could barely breathe.  
  
"Phoebe!" came Cole's voice as he shimmered into the room. He heard  
  
the laughing and followed the sound to the floor in front of the couch where  
  
they were tickling each other. He smiled to himself.  
  
They stopped tickling each other and looked at him, but were still  
  
laughing. "What's going on Baby?" Phoebe asked as she calmed herself down.  
  
He was caught by surprise when she called him Baby. She hadn't called  
  
him that in a long time. He smiled, "She's given birth!"  
  
"Ohmigod!" they all exclaimed and stood up. "Leo!" Piper added.  
  
"Do we go now?" Paige asked them.  
  
"No, wait a few minutes," Cole replied as Leo walked in. "I heard some  
  
of her servants talking. They're having a feast to celebrate, so there won't  
  
be much guard. And she's weak from the birth so she won't put up much of a  
  
fight."  
  
"Paige already thought of that, Piper made a potion that will make her  
  
mute so she can't scream for the guards," Phoebe explained.  
  
"Right, lemme' go get them," she hurried into the kitchen and came  
  
back seconds later with several bottles. She past them all out to the right  
  
person ending with Phoebe, who she gave Bera's vanquishing potion and a vial  
  
to make her mute.  
  
"You got the spell?" Paige asked putting the potions in her pocket.  
  
"Got it," Phoebe nodded as she stuffed it in her pocket. She turned to  
  
Cole and smiled, he walked across the room and hugged her tightly.  
  
"They should go first, Leo will follow and get the baby, then Piper and  
  
I'll go last," Paige explained.  
  
Phoebe and Cole nodded and added. "Aim for the corners, there's no  
  
light and they won't be able to see you there." They nodded and he looked  
  
down to Phoebe. "Ready?"  
  
She paused, looking her family over then turned back to him. "I'm  
  
ready."  
  
He took a tight hold on her and shimmered to Bera's chamber in the  
  
corner closest to Bera's bed. The demon was lying there, sleeping and weak  
  
from the birth. They surveyed the room, two guards were next to her door,  
  
there was a servant rocking a cradle and Ralika sat by Bera's bed looking as  
  
though he were about to fall asleep.  
  
Cole felt Phoebe take a step forward, but he held her back and  
  
nodded toward the potions. She pulled the muting potion out of her belt and  
  
uncorked it. Taking a deep breath she threw the potion at Ralika instead of  
  
Bera.  
  
He jumped up in surprise and started waving his hands frantically and  
  
opening his mouth trying to yell for someone to help. Piper's potion worked  
  
perfectly.  
  
Cole saw Leo appear a few feet from the cradle. The woman rocking it  
  
stood up and screamed. He quickly threw and energy ball at the woman and  
  
she burst into flames and withered. Leo nodded his thanks and bent down  
  
and grabbed the baby out of the cradle carefully and orbed away to the  
  
manner.  
  
Cole sighed. The important part of the quest was threw, his child was  
  
safe. But the woman's screams had alerted the guards at the doors and they  
  
immediately ran into the room. He noticed Bera had woken up and was looking  
  
around frantically as Phoebe kicked Ralika in the head. She was too weak to  
  
move, even to use her powers. Things were looking up for them.  
  
Cole took care of one of the guards with an energy ball, but the other  
  
had obviously had more training in dogging things thrown at him. He  
  
wondered if this was the same demon Piper had fought with the athame.  
  
Just as he was thinking of them they appeared. He tossed Paige an energy  
  
ball and she threw it at the guard, but he dogged it. Piper tried her  
  
exploding power, but her power still didn't work on the guards and they  
  
hadn't figured out why.  
  
She left the lone guard to Cole and Paige to take care of and ran over  
  
to help Phoebe with Ralika. She threw the potion made specially for  
  
vanquishing him, but nothing happened. She looked at Phoebe in horror, she  
  
had been certain it would work. "Take care of Bera, I'll get him," she  
  
commanded Phoebe.  
  
Phoebe looked at Ralika then to Piper and nodded. She turned to the  
  
bed where Bera was desperately trying to pull herself to a sitting position.  
  
"Save it Bitch, you can't save yourself," Phoebe told her. Suddenly all the  
  
anger and pain she'd felt for the last five months were finally directed at  
  
the source of it all.  
  
"You wouldn't have lived through the birth anyway," Bera said  
  
hoarsely. "It takes a lot to birth a demon, your puny little body wouldn't have  
  
lasted."  
  
"You'd be surprised what my puny little body can do," Phoebe replied  
  
and slapped Bera across the face forcefully.  
  
She knew Bera's face stung, because her hand did. But neither of  
  
them showed it. Bera turned slowly to face her. "Did Bethazar ever tell you  
  
about me?" she asked with an evil grin.  
  
"Tell me what?" Phoebe asked, suddenly very wary.  
  
Bera sneered weakly. "I'm the mother of his child."  
  
Phoebe's mouth dropped and she gasped. She didn't believe it, she  
  
wouldn't. "You're lying."  
  
"No, I'm not," Bera replied. "We made love right here in this bed  
  
almost a hundred years ago. I was the woman who made him a man Phoebe."  
  
Phoebe shook her head and backed away from Bera. "You're lying! He  
  
would've told me!"  
  
"Her name is Raven, Phoebe. But he doesn't know. She looks just like  
  
him," Bera continued taunting her. "She's my favorite of all my daughters,  
  
because he was the best I've ever had.... Right here in this bed Phoebe, six  
  
times in one night. Has he ever done that with you? Have you ever felt him  
  
make love to you six times?"  
  
Phoebe screamed in rage and ran over to her. She slapped Bera  
  
several times and punched her violently. "Don't you ever talk about my  
  
husband like that! Ever!" she screamed at her over and over again as she  
  
continued to beat her.  
  
She beat Bera unconscious, but she didn't care. She wanted her dead  
  
at her hand. She felt Piper pull her away from Bera's bloodied body, but she  
  
resisted knowing Bera wasn't dead yet. Piper fumbled around in Phoebe's  
  
pockets and found Bera's vanquishing potion. She pulled it out and threw it at  
  
Bera's body.  
  
Phoebe turned to Piper raging mad when she saw Bera's body flame up  
  
and disappear. "Why did you do that! She was mine to kill! Mine!" Phoebe  
  
screamed with tears streaming down her face.  
  
"You never would've forgave yourself if you actually killed your baby's  
  
birth mother!" Piper exclaimed.  
  
"She was mine to kill! I wanted to kill her!" Phoebe screamed and  
  
suddenly burst into sobs when she realized Piper was right.  
  
Paige threw an energy ball Cole had given her at Ralika from behind as  
  
Cole kept him busy from the front. He jumped in surprise and fell to the  
  
floor, but burned up before he made impact. As soon as he was gone she ran  
  
over to Phoebe and Piper and hugged Phoebe tightly along with Piper.  
  
Cole took care of the last demon that had come through the door and  
  
ran over to the group. "We've got to go before back up comes," he told them.  
  
Phoebe nodded through her tears and garbed him. She needed to feel  
  
him holding her right then, no one else would do but him. She didn't know  
  
whether or not to believe Bera's claim that she'd birthed his daughter, and  
  
she wasn't sure she wanted to know if it were true or not. But she told  
  
herself she wasn't going to tell him anyway.  
  
She knew in a way she was being selfish, not letting that girl know her  
  
father, if there even was a girl to speak of. But the girl was a demon,  
  
probably just like Bera. She pushed the thought away, she couldn't see  
  
anything coming from this man ever being as mean and cruel as Bera had  
  
been. Out of protection of her own daughter, Cole would never know. At  
  
least by her he wouldn't.  
  
"Let's go home," she whispered to the group. They nodded silently as  
  
Paige took Piper's hand and orbed her to the manor and Cole shimmer her  
  
there as well.  
  
"Are you guys all right? What happened?" Leo asked as soon as they  
  
appeared. He was holding the baby in his arms, rocking her, trying to calm  
  
her cries.  
  
Phoebe reached out for the baby and he handed her to Phoebe  
  
carefully. She placed her in the crook of her arm and studied her. Brown  
  
wisps of hair the same color as hers, but with a slightly reddish tint, and  
  
Cole's brilliant green eyes. Her skin was a light bronze color, a mixture of  
  
both Cole and Phoebe's tans.  
  
Cole hovered near, also studying his child as well. He counted fingers  
  
and toes, twenty in all. Two arms, two legs, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, he  
  
went on making sure she had every vital part until he was satisfied she was  
  
normal and healthy.  
  
In their examination of their child they hadn't noticed the others  
  
were watching them, Piper having filled Leo in on what had happened after  
  
he left, they were waiting for the new parents to say something.  
  
Phoebe looked up at Cole and smiled, she too was satisfied the child  
  
was normal and healthy. Cole smiled in return and kissed Phoebe passionately,  
  
something they hadn't done in months.  
  
Piper shot Paige a delighted smile and Paige returned it. "So, Phoebe,"  
  
Paige broke the silence. "What're you gonna name her?"  
  
Phoebe turned to her and thought a moment. "Patience," she replied.  
  
"Her name is Patience." Cole nodded his approval and so did everyone else.  
  
* * * * *The End* * * * * 


End file.
